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Reminiscences  of  Chicago 

During  the  Forties 

and  Fifties 


W^\)t  ilakesftoe  Classics; 

Reminiscences 

of  Chicago  During  the 

Forties  and  Fifties 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

BY 

MABEL  McILVAlNE 


(Cftc  Saftesibe  press,  Chicago 

R.  R.  DONNELLEY  &    SONS   COMPANY 

CHRISTMAS,  MCMXIII 


p\xbli^)^tv^'  l^reface 


FOLLOWING  the  practice  of  the  last  two 
seasons,  the  Pubhshers  have  chosen  as 
the  subject  for  this  year's  volume  of  the 
Lakeside  Classics  additional  material  concern- 
ing the  earlier  days  in  Chicago.  In  this  volume 
they  have  confined  themselves  to  the  forties  and 
fifties  — to  that  period  between  the  days  of  the 
first  settlers  and  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
when  the  early  pioneers  were  working  out  their 
fortunes  and  establishing  the  young,  growing 
city  as  the  commercial  center  of  the  Great 
West. 

In  the  selections  by  Charles  Cleaver,  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor William  Bross,  and  Joseph 
Jefferson  there  is  the  intimate  personal  touch 
so  delightful  in  all  reminiscences.  But  a  review 
of  this  period  of  Chicago's  growth,  no  matter 
how  cursory,  must  place  emphasis  upon  the 
beginnings  of  that  railroad  system  which  has 
made  Chicago  the  greatest  railroad  center  of 
the  entire  world.  The  meeting  in  Chicago  of 
all  the  early  railroad  lines  from  the  East,  the 
South,  and  the  West  made  Chicago  the  great 
distributing  point  for  the  fast  developing 
Mississippi  Valley  and  enabled  Chicago  to 
forge  ahead  of  her  two  rivals,  Cincinnati  and 
\     St.    Louis.     The    first    railroad    built    out   of 


UB  SETS 


^Dutiiisljcrs'  preface 


Chicago  was  the  Galena  and  Chicago,  now  the 
Galena  Division  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwest- 
ern Railroad.  Within  a  }'car  or  so  tlic  Illinois 
Central  was  built  into  the  city  from  the  South. 
As  these  two  railways  were  the  first  and  were 
projected  by  Illinois  enterprise,  the  publishers 
have  considered  them  the  most  typical  and 
interesting  in  connection  with  early  Chicago 
history.  It  is  regretted  that  it  has  been  impos- 
sible to  find  original  letters  or  articles  by  the 
railroad  pioneers  themselves,  giving  a  compre- 
hensive story  of  the  early  days  of  railroad 
building.  The  account  here  reprinted  has  been 
taken  from  Andraes's  "History  of  Chicago," 
and  it  is  hoped  that  what  these  descriptions 
may  lack  in  personalities  will  be  more  than 
compensated  by  the  interest  of  the  subject 
matter  itself. 

The  Publishers  again  desire  to  acknowledge 
their  appreciation  of  tlie  work  of  Miss  Mcllvaine 
in  searching  out  from  the  mass  of  material 
collected  in  the  librarv  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society  the  subject  matter  of  this  volume,  and 
also  their  appreciation  of  the  courtesy  of  The 
Century  Company  in  permitting  the  reprinting 
of  a  chapter  from  "The  Autobiography  of 
Joseph  Jefferson." 

It  is  liopcd  that  this  volume  will  contimie  to 
fuliill  the  modest  mission  of  the  Lakeside 
Classics — to  prove  tliat  a  book  can  be  good  and 
"booky"  even  if  manufactured  economically, 
to  bear  witness  of  the  thoroughness  of  the 
vi 


^uM^f^tt^'  preface 


instruction  and  permanency  of  The  School  for 
Apprentices  of  the  Lakeside  Press,  and  to 
carry  to  all  the  patrons  and  friends  of  the  Press 
at  this  season  of  good  wishes,  the  good  wishes 
of 

THE    PUBLISHERS. 
Christmas,   1913. 


ContcntgJ 


PAGE 

Introduction xiii 

William  Bross i 

Extracted  from  "What  I  Remember  of 
Early  Chicago,"  a  Lecture  delivered  by 
William  Bross,  Ex-Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor of  Illinois,  at  McCormick  Hall, 
January  2^,  1876. 

Charles  Cleaver  39 

Extracts  from  articles  which  appeared 
first  in  The  Chicago  Tribune. 

Joseph  Jefferson,  Chicagoan  .     .     .     yy 

Reprinted  from  "The  Autobiography  of 
Joseph    Jefferson." 

Chicago's  First  Railroad  Systems      93 

Reprinted  from  Andraes's  "History  of 
Chicago." 


Introduction 


31ntrotiuction 


THE  period  of  the  Forties  and  Fifties  in 
Chicago  may  be  briefly  characterized  as 
the  era  of  "the  iron  horse  and  mechani- 
cal man. ' '  The  advent  of  railroads  and  reapers 
marked  the  end  of  isolation  and  of  primitive 
agriculture.  Not  less  real  in  their  effect  upon 
the  future  of  Chicago  was  the  inauguration  of 
commercial  journalism  and  the  establishment 
of  a  permanent  theater.  Between  the  years 
1840  and  i860  the  population  of  Chicago  in- 
creased 835  per  cent.  Who  shall  say  which 
agency  did  more  to  make  life  seem  desirable 
in  Chicago — the  railroad,  the  reaper,  the 
newspaper,  or  the  theater? 

It  is  not  our  province  to  attempt  an  answer 
to  this  question,  but  to  place  before  the  reader 
certain  facts  and  documents  from  which  he 
may  draw  his  own  conclusions.  For  access 
to  all  of  this  material,  as  well  as  to  many 
unpublished  letters,  and  for  the  privilege  of 
producing  in  print  the  Centennial  Ode  of  Joseph 
Jefferson,  we  are  indebted  to  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  reapers  in  con- 
nection with  railroads.  A  fact  not  commonly 
realized  is  that  when  Cyrus  H.  McCormick 
had   decided    upon   Chicago   as   the   place   to 


S^ntrotiuction 


build  his  reaper  factory,  it  was  William  B. 
Ogden,  Chicago's  first  mayor,  who,  in  1848, 
for  the  space  of  a  year,  became  his  partner, 
and  financially  furthered  the  enterprise  so 
advantageous  to  the  development  of  agriculture 
and  hence  of  all  other  enterprises  in  the  West. 
The  factory  stood  on  the  site  of  the  old  Kinzie 
House,  on  Kinzie  Street  near  the  Rush  Street 
bridge.  It  is  notable  that  the  first  railroad 
out  of  Chicago  started  on  the  line  of  Kinzie 
Street,  running  west,  in  1848.  That  was  the 
Galena  and  Chicago  Union  Road,  of  which 
Mr.  Ogden  was  first  president,  and  of  which  he 
prophesied  in  his  first  report  that  it  would 
become  the  nucleus  of  the  Northwestern 
system.  An  anecdote  related  to  the  writer  bv 
a  neighbor,  whose  father  was  financial  manager 
for  Mr.  Ogden,  illustrates  the  difference  be- 
tween a  railroad  magnate  then  and  now.  It 
became  the  duty  of  Mr.  Quigg,  the  aforesaid 
financial  man,  to  ascertain  the  full  amount  of 
Mr.  Ogden's  wealth.  After  a  long  investi- 
gation he  announced  that  it  was  about  a  million 
dollars.  "My  God,  Quigg,  but  that's  a  lot  of 
money!"  cried  Mr.  Ogden. 

Just  prior  to  the  coming  of  railroads,  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  had  seemed  the 
all-important  thing.  Of  this  we  have  heard 
in  the  pre\'i()us  volume  t)f  this  series.  At  the 
very  time  when  railroads  were  about  to  revo- 
lutionize the  entire  c|uestion  of  transportation, 
the  stage  lines  running  to  and  from  Chicago 
xiv 


^Fntroduction 


formed  a  colossal  (!)  combination,  under  the 
name  of  Frink  &  Walker.  These  stages  kept 
up  an  intermittent  contact  with  the  neighboring 
states,  and,  starting  from  an  old  shanty 
which  stood  where  the  Merchants'  Loan  & 
Trust  Company  now  is,  embraced  in  their 
itinerary  some  two  thousand  miles.  As  late 
as  1847  measures  were  being  put  through  the 
legislature  for  the  laying  of  plank  roads,  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  evade  "the  iron 
horse"  as  long  as  possible.  Within  the  city 
there  was  not  a  single  paved  street,  and  drays 
were  frequently  abandoned  in  the  downtown 
district,  as  impossible  of  recovery  from  the 
mud.  From  March  until  the  first  of  May  the 
city  was  practically  cut  off  from  communica- 
tion with  the  world  by  reason  of  the  mud,  and, 
as  there  was  no  telegraph,  news  from  New 
York  was  sometimes  a  month  in  reaching  us 
by  the  overland  route. 

To  the  relief  of  this  beleaguered  city  came 
at  last  a  champion  armed  with  a  pen — William 
Bross,  who,  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1813,  settled 
in  Chicago  in  1848,  identifying  himself  first 
with  the  book-trade,  and  afterwards  with  The 
Democratic  Press  and  The  Chicago  Tribune. 
For  many  years  he  made  it  his  business  to 
chronicle  the  state  of  Chicago's  advancement, 
to  drop  hints  at  home  as  to  possible  improve- 
ments, and  to  issue  an  annual  statement  to  the 
world  at  large,  but  ?iot  on  the  subject  of  our 


5Fntrotiuction 


shortcomings.  "Deacon"  Bross,  as  he  was 
commonly  called,  was  a  member  of  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Church.  In  fact  it  was  some- 
times designated  as  "Deacon  Bross's  Church." 
"Deacon"  Bross  was  also  an  Abolitionist, 
long  before  that  was  a  popular  thing  to  be, 
and  when  the  Republican  party  was  formed  in 
1854  it  was  "Deacon"  Bross  who  made  the 
speech  in  Dearborn  Park  nominating  Fremont 
for  president.  "Deacon"  Bross  proceeded 
with  his  double  mission  of  blowing  the  horn  of 
Chicago's  commercial  prosperity  and  sounding 
the  last  trump  for  the  doom  of  slavery  until, 
the  war  being  ended,  he  was  raised  to  the 
ofitice  of  lieutenant-governor  of  Illinois.  In 
this  capacity,  as  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate 
in  Illinois,  when  the  constitutional  amendment 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States 
was  presented  to  the  several  states  for  ratifica- 
tion, his  name  led  all  the  rest  of  signatures 
affixed  to  that  charter  of  human  rights.  Finally, 
when,  with  Vice-President  Colfax,  he  visited 
the  Rocky  Mountains  in  1868,  and  had  ascended 
Mount  Lincoln,  a  neighboring  peak  was  pointed 
out  by  the  miners  thereabout,  a  peak  only  a 
little  lower  than  Mount  Lincoln,  and  if  to-day 
you  should  ask  the  name  of  it  you  would  learn 
that  it  bears  the  name  of  Bross.  Hon.  William 
Bross,  Presbyterian,  Republican,  Lieutenant- 
governor  of  Illinois,  and  Founder  of  Commercial 
Journalism  in  Chicago,  has  left  us  a  priceless 
legacy  in  the  form  of  a  lecture  entitled  What  I 


^FntroDuction 


Remember  of  Early  Chicago.  It  was  delivered 
in  McCormick  Hall  and  was  reported  in  The 
Chicago  Tribune  of  18/6.  This  is  here  re- 
printed in  full. 

Charles  Cleaver,  Chicago's  "Original  Soap-fat 
Man,"  Tallow  Chandler,  Founder  of  Cleaver- 
ville,  and  all-round  observer,  in  his  Early 
Chicago  Reminiscences,  has  given  an  invaluable 
account  of  things  in  general  in  Chicago  and 
the  packing  industry  in  particular,  dating  from 
1833  to  about  1857.  Of  this  we  reprint  the 
portion  dealing  with  the  Forties  and  Fifties. 
Mr.  Cleaver,  born  at  Kensington  Common, 
London,  England,  in  1 8 14,  came  to  Chicago  in 
1833,  ^"d  lived  until  1893.  Having  allied 
himself  with  the  various  packers  of  Chicago  as 
a  sort  of  clearing-house  for  lard,  his  fortune 
was  sufficiently  large  in  1857  to  allow  him  to 
retire  from  the  office  of  chief  "Renderer," 
and  to  enter  upon  that  of  real  estate  dealer. 
His  house,  erected  in  1853  near  the  foot  of 
38th  Street,  became  the  nucleus  of  a  suburban 
town  named  Cleaverville.  With  true  feudal 
instinct  he  promoted  the  welfare  of  his  tenants, 
even  to  the  extent  of  building  a  church  for  them 
(the  first  church  in  Hyde  Park),  of  floating- 
houses  down  the  river  for  their  accommodation 
when  none  were  to  be  found  near  by,  and  finally, 
when  the  Illinois  Central  was  creeping  toward 
Chicago  he  paid  them  $3800  a  year  to  run  trains 
to  his  settlement.    He  was  one  of  the  organizers 


^Fntrotiuctiou 


of  Dearborn  Seminary,  and  held  the  high 
honor  of  membership  in  the  old  Hook  and 
Ladder  Company  No.  i,  that  noble  little  group 
of  men,  including  Silas  Cobb,  P.  F.  W.  Peck, 
and  others,  v/ho  used  to  run  to  the  fires, 
dragging  their  engine  after  them,  in  the  Forties 
and  Fifties. 

"Joseph  Jefferson,  Actor"  (as  his  name 
appeared  in  the  first  directory  of  Chicago), 
has  told  in  his  Autobio^^rapJiy  the  story  of  the 
first  real  theater  in  Chicago,  and  has,  in  the 
telling,  vividly  depicted  Chicago  at  the  beginning 
of  the  epoch  in  question. 

Josepli  Jefferson  the  younger,  although  we 
claim  him  as  a  Chicagoan,  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, February  20th,  1 829.  At  the  time 
that  he  first  saw  Chicago,  just  before  the 
Forties,  he  could  not  have  been  more  than  ten 
years  old,  but  since  he  was  already  holding  the 
audience  between  the  acts  with  comic  songs, 
and  "doing"  a  Roman  Senator,  in  Julius 
Carsar,  he  must  have  been  rather  more  than 
an  "infant  jihcnomenon."  His  father,  Joseph 
Jefferson  the  elder,  was  an  actor  of  experience, 
and  his  mother  a  lady  of  much  grace  and 
refinement,  as  well  as  an  accomplished  actress. 
No  one  that  has  ever  written  of  Chicago  has 
more  truly  caught  the  spirit  of  the  place  and 
time  than  has  Joe  Jefferson,  in  the  breezy 
sketch  here  given.  Not  only  had  he  tlic  actor's 
faculty  for  "taking  in  the  scene,"  but  the 
xviii 


^FntroDuction 


painter's  ability  to  depict  it  so  that  otliers 
might  see  it.  Who  but  Joe  Jefferson  ever  told 
us  about  the  "busy  little  town,"  with  its  "bright 
and  muddy  streets,"  "gaudy-colored  calicoes," 
"blue  and  red  striped  ticking,"  "bar-rooms, 
real-estate  offices,"  and  oceans  of  "attorneys- 
at-law"?  Who  ever  made  us  hear  the  "Saw! 
saw!  bang!  bang!"  of  "the  buildings  going  up, 
and  the  sidewalks  going  down?"  It  is  right 
mat  his  name  should  appear  in  the  Chicago 
Directory  of  that  year,  together  with  that  of 
his  father.  If  he  were  not  a  Chicagoan  by 
birth,  he  was  one  by  election. 

The  elder  Jefferson  had  come  to  Chicago  to 
found  a  theater,  in  company  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  Alexander  McKenzie,  who  already 
resided  here.  Prior  to  the  coming  of  the 
Jeffersons,  Chicago's  dramatic  endeavors  had 
taken  place  in  the  abandoned  Sauganash,  Mark 
Beaubien's  old  hotel,  where  Messrs.  Isherwood 
and  McKenzie  had  given  sporadic  perform- 
ances. Having  obtained  the  privilege  of  using, 
for  theatrical  purposes,  the  one-time  auction- 
house  called  the  Rialto,  Mr.  McKenzie  had 
induced  the  Jefferson  family  to  come  and  inau- 
gurate the  enterprise  under  the  name  of  "The 
Chicago  Theater."  They  opened  with  The 
Lady  of  Lyons,  with  ^Master  Joseph  Jefferson 
singing  the  comic  song  of  Lord  Lovcl  and  Lady 
Xaii'w     Jefferson  the  elder  was  manager. 

Mr.  Samuel  Beach  fiftv  vears  later  wrote  of 
this  company :      '  'Without  the  aid  of  the  gilded 


5ntrotiuction 


surroundings  .  .  .  that  are  the  common  ad- 
juncts of  the  modern  stage,  our  pioneers  were 
forced  to  rely  solely  upon  the  sterling  merit  of 
each  actor.  .  .  .  The  delicate  shades  and  lights 
of  life  were  touched  by  master  hands.  .  .  . 
The  purpose  was  to  place  the  theater  among 
the  honored  institutions  of  our  enlarging  civil- 
ization." 

Writing  to  J.  H.  McVicker  on  Christmas 
Day,  1882,  Joseph  Jefferson,  Jr.,  said  of  this 
occasion:  "The  new  theater  was  quite  the 
pride  of  the  city,  and  the  idol  of  the  manager; 
for  it  had  one  tier  of  boxes  and  a  gallery  at  the 
back.  I  don't  think  the  seats  of  the  dress- 
circle  were  stuffed,  but  I  am  almost  sure  they 
were  p/a/ifJ.  .  .  .  The  city  had  then  from 
three  to  four  thousand  inhabitants;  I  can 
remember  following  my  father  along  the  shore, 
when  he  went  hunting  on  what  is  now  Michigan 
Avenue." 

John  B.  Rice  founded  his  theater  in  1847, 
and  James  H.  McVicker  built  McVicker's 
Theater  in  1857.  In  that  same  year  the 
younger  Jefferson  was  appearing  with  Laura 
Keane  in  New  York.  Our  Auirriiaii  Cousin 
had  a  run  of  140  nights.  In  i860  he  sailed 
for  England,  and  with  Dion  Boucicault  re- 
cast Rip  Van  Winkle,  wliich,  as  he  tells  us,  he 
had  first  conceived,  as  a  play,  in  tlic  barn  at  his 
summer  home.  We  all  know  the  storv  c>f  his 
triumphs  in  that  role,  as  well  as  in  l.t-nJ  J/r 
Fi;c  S/iillin<::s  and   The  Rivals.      In  1 892  Yale 

XX 


3Fntrotiuction 


College  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts. 

In  a  lecture  on  art  which  he  gave  in  a 
Chicago  studio,  in  1903,  the  writer  heard  Joe 
Jefferson  explain  the  difficulty  of  the  actor's 
art,  in  that  the  effect  must  be  instantaneous. 
No  opportunity  is  given  to  rub  out  and  begin 
over,  as  in  painting.  He  also  told  how  difficult 
it  is,  after  one  has  played  a  part  many  times, 
to  appear  surprised  when  addressed  by  one  of 
the  other  actors,  and,  to  illustrate,  he  got  down 
on  the  floor, without  accessories,  and,  performed 
the  awakening  scene  from  Rip  Van  Winkle. 
So  perfect  was  the  illusion  created  that  when 
it  was  over  one  was  amazed  to  see  standing 
there  a  man  of  modern  time,  clad  in  the  gar- 
ments of  to-day,  and  not  the  tattered  old  man 
of  the  mountain,  arising  crippled  with  age  and 
haunted  by  voices  of  a  former  generation. 

In  his  Autobiography  Jefferson  tells  that  after 
reading  Irving's  story,  he  began  to  put  together 
the  play  of  Rip  Van  Winkle  by  buying  a  wig. 
Then  he  practiced  before  a  glass,  until  the 
neighbors  thought  that  he  had  a  lunatic  housed 
within.  He  had  since  learned  to  do  the  part 
without  the  wig,  and  even  with  the  distracting 
influence  of  a  pair  of  rather  bright  blue  trousers, 
a  yellow  waistcoat,  black  Prince  Albert,  and 
red  necktie. 

The  writer's  grandfather  once  met  him  in  a 
little  town  in  Ohio  when  he  was  dressed  so 
oddly  that  the  hotel  clerk  was  refusing  him  a 


^Tntrotiuction 


room.  Upon  the  clerk's  being  assured  that 
he  was  a  friend  of  grandfather's,  and  was  only 
joking  about  requiring  a  room  by  himself, 
Jefferson  was  asked  to  sign  the  register,  which 
he  did  in  a  hand  like  that  of  John  Hancock, 
instantly  accepting  the  hospitality  of  a  total 
stranger,  on  the  ground  that  they  both  came 
from  Chicago!  As  a  matter  of  fact  Jefferson 
was  out  of  money,  and  grandfather  paid  the  bill. 
The  Chicago  Historical  Society  possesses  a 
manuscript  poem  from  Jefferson's  j^en  entitled 
Centennial  Ode.  It  was  read  by  the  veteran 
actor  on  October  I,  1903,  in  tlie  Auditorium 
Hotel  on  the  occasion  of  the  mayor's  banquet 
celebrating  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  building  of  Fort  Dearborn.  By  permis- 
sion of  the  officers  of  the  society  it  is  repro- 
duced here  for  the  first  time. 

CENTENNIAL    ODE 

All  hail  to  Chicago!     We  greet  you  to-nighi 

On  the  eve  of  your  hundreth  year. 

May  our  spirits  be  cheerful,  convivial,  and  bright, 

May  our  smiles  chase  away  every  tear. 

I  knew  your  great  city  when  I  was  a  boy, 

As  a  man  I  have  witnessed  its  progress  with  joy. 

Its  early  achievements  had  startled  this  nation. 

And  then  came  the  blow  of  its  sad  desolation. 

But  she  rose  like  a  Piioenix,  and  spreading  her  wings 

Sheltered  statesmen  arul  merchants  like  princes  and 

kings. 
Her  watchword  was  "Onward"  from  every  heart, 
In  science,  in  commerce,  religion  and  art. 
She  con(|uered  ^/.r/rtAv-- aye,  that  was  the  test  — 
And  gained  her  true  title,  "The  Pride  of  the  West." 
x.xii 


^Fntrotiuction 


Capt.  A.  T.  Andreas,  in  his  monumental 
History  of  Chicago,  Volume  I,  has  recounted 
the  early  annals  of  Chicago's  railroad  systems 
in  a  manner  so  complete  as  to  need  no  further 
comment  here.  From  this  we  have  made 
liberal  selection  for  the  last  article  in  this 
volume. 

Mabel  McIlvaine. 


Reminiscences  of  Chicago 

During  the  Forties 

and  Fifties 


3^illiam  l3ro)3)S 

[Extracted    from    "What    I     Remember    of    Early 

Chicago,"  a      Lecture    delivered    by    William 

Bross,  Ex-Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois,  at 

McCormick    Hall,   January  23,    1876.] 


THE  charter  of  the  city  of  Chicago  bears 
date  March  4,  1837,  and  the  first  election 
for  city  officers  was  held  on  the  first 
Tuesday  in  May,  1837.  Not  a  few  of  the  men 
and  women  who  saw  it  when  an  Indian  trading 
post,  with  Fort  Dearborn  to  defend  the 
settlers,  are  still  among  us,  and  the  ladies 
certainly  would  not  feel  complimented  were 
they  called  old.  Hence  whatever  is  said 
about  "The  Early  Times  in  Chicago"  must 
be  regarded  as  relative,  for  the  city  had  not 
yet  numbered  thirty-eight  years.  As  I  first 
saw  Chicago  in  October,  1846,  and  commenced 
my  permanent  residence  here  on  the  1 2th  of 
May,  1848,  I  can  scarcely  be  called  an  old 
citizen,  and  yet  in  that  time  it  has  grown  from 
a  city  of  about  18,000  (later  in  the  season  the 
census  gave  us  20,023)  to  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
450,000 — an  increase  never  before  equaled  by 
any  city  in  the  history  of  the  world.  From  a 
city  then  scarcely  ever  mentioned,  she  has 
become  fourth  in  rank  and  population  upon 
the  American  Continent. 


iUcmini^caicc^  of  Cljicago 

But  granting  for  the  moment  that  I  am  an 
old  citizen,  I  recognizee  the  duty  of  placing  on 
record — as  myself  and  others  have  doubtless 
often  been  urged  to  do — what  I  know  person- 
ally of  the  history  of  Chicago.  Though  this 
may  require  a  too  frequent  use  of  the  personal 
pronoun,  your  Directors  are  responsible  if  I 
bore  you  with  it.  If  each  citizen  would  do  it, 
the  future  historian  could  select  what  best 
suited  his  purpose,  and  Chicago  would  have 
what  no  other  city  has,  a  history  from  its  earliest 
times,  written  by  its  living  inhabitants.  In 
1854  I  prepared  and  published  some  notes  on 
the  history  of  the  Town  of  Chicago — in  fact, 
going  back  to  the  discovery  of  the  site  by  the 
French  Jesuit  missionaries,  Marquette  and 
Joliet, — -and  I  shall  devote  the  hour  to  giving 
you  a  supplement  to  what  used  to  be  called  "Our 
Pamphlet"  of  1854.  This  was  ably  continued 
by  my  friend,  Elias  Colbert,  in  1868;  but 
neither  of  them  pretends  to  give  much  of  how 
Chicago  appeared  to  the  visitor  in  the  "earlier 
times"  of  its  history. 

Your  speaker,  as  above  stated,  first  arrived 
in  Chicago  early  in  the  morning  of  the  second 
Sabbath  in  October,  1846,  now  of  course 
nearly  thirty  years  ago.  We  landed  from  the 
steamer  Oregon,  Captain  Cotton,  near  the  foot 
of  Wabash  Avenue,  and,  with  others,  valise  in 
hand,  trudged  through  the  sand  to  the  American 
Temperance  House,  then  situated  on  the  north- 
west   corner    of    Walxish    Avenue    and    Lake 


William  23ro^^ 


Street.  Soon  after  breakfast  a  tall  young 
man,  made  apparently  taller  by  a  cloth  cloak 
in  which  his  gaunt  figure  seemed  in  danger  of 
losing  itself,  and  whose  reserved,  modest 
manners  were  the  very  reverse  of  what  we  had 
expected  to  find  at  the  West,  called  on  the 
clergy  of  our  party  and  invited  one  of  them  to 
preach  and  the  rest  of  us  to  attend  service  in 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church.  That  cloak 
would  now  be  well  filled  by  its  owner,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Patterson,  who  has  grown  physically  as 
well  as  intellectually  and  morally  with  the 
growth  of  the  city,  to  whose  moral  welfare  he 
has  so  largelv  contributed.  Of  course  we  all 
went  to  what  by  courtesy,  as  we  thought,  was 
called  a  church.  It  was  a  one-story,  balloon, 
shanty-like  structure  that  had  been  patched  out 
at  one  end  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  increasing 
congregation.  It  stood  on  Randolph  Street, 
south  side,  a  little  east  of  Clark.  It  certainly 
gave  no  promise  of  the  antique  but  splendid 
church  that  before  the  fire  stood  on  the  corner 
of  Washington  Street  and  Wabash  Avenue,  or 
that  still  more  elaborate  and  costly  building, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Gibson's  church,  at  the  corner  of 
Michigan  Avenue  and  Twentieth  Street. 

That  afternoon  and  Monday  morning  aff"orded 
ample  time  to  see  the  city.  The  residence 
portion  of  it  was  mainly  between  Randolph 
and  Madison  streets,  and  there  were  some 
scattered  houses  as  far  south  as  Van  Buren, 
on  the  South  Side,  four  or  five  blocks  north  of 


i!lcnimi0ccncc^  of  Cljicago 

the  river  on  the  North  Side,  with  scattering" 
residences  about  as  far  on  the  West  Side. 
There  were  perhaps  half  a  dozen  or  more 
wooden  warehouses  along  the  river  on  Water 
Street.  The  few  stores  that  pretended  to  be 
wholesale  were  on  Water  Street,  and  the  retail 
trade  was  exclusively  done  on  Lake  Street. 
Stores  and  dwellings  were,  with  few  exceptions, 
built  in  the  balloon  fashion.  To  some  of  my 
hearers  this  style  of  building  may  already  be 
mysterious.  Posts  were  placed  in  the  ground 
at  the  corners,  and  at  proper  distances  between 
them  blocks  were  laid  down  singly  or  in  cob- 
house  fashion.  On  these  foundations  were  laid, 
and  to  these  were  spiked,  standing  on  end,  3x4 
scantling.  On  these  sheathboards  were  nailed, 
and  weatherboards  on  the  outside  of  them; 
and  lath  and  plaster  inside,  with  the  roof, 
completed  the  dwelling  or  store.  This  cheap, 
but  for  a  new  town,  excellent,  mode  of  building, 
it  is  claimed,  was  first  introduced,  or,  if  you 
please,  invented,  in  Chicago,  and  I  believe  the 
claim  to  be  true.  Of  course  the  lire  made  sad 
havoc  with  them  at  times;  but  the  loss  was 
comparatively  small,  and  they  were  quickly 
and  cheaply  rebuilt.  True,  Chicago  was 
ridiculed  as  a  slab  citv;  but,  if  not  pleasant,  to 
bear  ridicule  breaks  no  bones.  When  our 
merchants  and  capitalists  had  grown  rich 
enough  to  build  permanent  buildings,  of  course 
thev  did  it.  Tlicn  there  were  not  as  many 
bricks  laid  in  walls  in  the  whole  citv  as  there 


William  ^ro0^ 


are  now  in  single  blocks  anywhere  near  the 
business  center  of  the  city.  Chicago  need  not 
shrink  from  comparing  them  with  those  in  any 
other  city  upon  the  continent. 

My  first  objective  point  in  northern  Illinois 
was  Batavia,  on  Fox  River,  forty  miles  distant, 
where  some  Orange  County  (N.  Y.)  friends 
resided.  As  Frink  &  Walker's  stages  did  not 
pass  through  the  town  except  on  the  road 
along  the  river,  the  problem  was  how  to  get 
there.  The  streets  were  full  of  farmers'  teams, 
and  in  half  an  hour's  tour  among  them  we 
found  a  man  who,  for  a  small  sum,  agreed  to 
land  us  there  Monday  evening.  It  was  nearly 
noon  before  we  got  started,  and  as  two  of  my 
traveling  companions  lived  three  or  four  miles 
west  of  Fox  River,  and  were  bound  to  get 
home  that  night,  they  soon  began  to  use  all 
their  arts  to  urge  our  Jehu  onward.  At  the 
old  tavern  on  the  west  side  of  the  Aux  Plaines, 
near  the  bridge,  they  treated  the  old  farmer 
freely,  and  again  at  Cottage  Hill,  Babcock's 
Grove,  and  other  places;  but  sooth  to  say,  the 
whisky,  though  it  had  a  marked  effect '  upon 
the  old  man,  must  then,  as  now,  have  been 
"crooked,"  for  the  more  he  got  of  it  inside  of 
his  vest  the  slower  he  stubbornly  determined 
to  drive  his  team;  but  he  assured  us  he  would 
"root  along"  and  get  to  Batavia  that  evening, 
and  he  did.  Of  course,  an  account  of  my 
journey  to  St.  Louis  and  up  the  Ohio  home- 
ward has  no  place  in  this  lecture. 
5 


Htcminis^cmccif  of  Cl)tcago 

As  a  specimen  of  traveling  in  1 848,  I  mention 
that  it  toolc  us  nearly  a  week  to  come  from 
New  York  to  Chicago.  Our  trip  was  made 
by  steamer  to  Albany;  railway  cars  at  a  slow 
pace  to  Buffalo;  by  the  steamer  Canada  thence 
to  Detroit ;  and  by  the  Michigan  Central 
Railway,  most  of  the  way  on  strap  rail,  to 
Kalamazoo;  here  the  line  ended,  and,  arriving 
about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  after  a  good 
supper,  we  started  about  ten  in  a  sort  of  a 
cross  between  a  coach  and  a  lumber  box-wagon 
for  St.  Joseph.  The  road  was  exceedingly 
rough,  and,  with  bangs  and  bruises  all  over 
our  bodies,  towards  morning  several  of  us  left 
the  coach  and  walked  on,  very  easily  keeping 
ahead.  In  this  tramp  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  John  S.  Wright,  then,  and  for  many  years 
afterward,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and 
valuable  citizens  Chicago  ever  had.  He  gave 
me  a  cordial  welcome  and  a  great  deal  of 
valuable  information.  On  Sabbath  he  called 
and  took  me  to  church,  and  embraced  many 
opportunities  to  introduce  me  to  Mayor  Wood- 
wortfi  and  other  leading  citizens,  giving  me  a 
lesson  in  courtesy  to  strangers  v/hich  I  have 
never  forgotten.  1  beg  to  impress  it  upon  you 
all  as  a  duty  too  much  neglected  in  the  hurry 
and  bustle  that  surrounds  us  on  every  side. 

The    steamer    Sam     Ward,    with    Captain 

Clement  first  officer,  and  jolly  Dick  Somers  as 

steward,  afterwards  Alderman,  brought  us  to 

the  city  on  the  evening  of  the   1 2th  of  May, 

6 


William  ^ro^^ 


1848,  and  here,  at  121  Lake  Street,  with  Dr. 
Scammon's  drug-store  on  one  side  and  Lock's 
clothing  store  on  the  other,  the  stranger  from 
the  East  settled  down  quietly  as  a  bookseller. 
The  city  had  added  four  thousand  to  its  popu- 
lation in  the  year  and  a  half  after  I  first  saw  it; 
but  it  had  changed  very  little  in  appearance. 
It  was  still  pre-eminently  a  slab  city.  The 
Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  had  been  opened 
the  month  before,  and  during  the  summer 
packets  were  put  on,  and,  running  in  connection 
with  steamers  on  the  Illinois  River,  quite  an 
impetus  was  given  to  travel  through  the  city. 
To  them  it  did  not  present  a  very  inviting 
aspect.  The  balloon  buildings  above  spoken 
of  were  mostly  dingy  and  weather-beaten. 
The  only  two  stone  buildings  in  the  city,  built 
of  blue  limestone  brought  as  ballast  from  the 
lower  lakes,  stood  on  Michigan  Avenue  between 
Lake  and  South  Water  streets,  on  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
offices.  They  were  the  aristocratic  mansions 
of  the  city.  There  were  a  few  brick  residences 
and  stores,  but  these  were  the  exception.  It 
was  curious  to  notice  how  long  some  of  the 
old  balloon  buildings  would  escape  the  fire. 
The  old  store  in  which  Mosely  &  McCord 
commenced  business,  between  Clark  and  La 
Salle  streets,  on  the  north  side  of  Lake,  was 
built  when  the  proprietors  could  look  south  to 
Blue  Island  with  not  a  building  in  front  to 
obstruct  the  view.  There  it  stood,  with  the 
7 


iUcnitni^cmcf^  of  €l)icago 

sign  "Mosely  &  McCord"  just  below  the  roof, 
till  it  was  all  surrounded  by  brick  buildings, 
and  the  insurance  on  it  has  cost  ten  times  what 
the  building  was  ever  worth.  Subtract  the 
few  scattering  brick  buildings  on  South  Clark 
Street,  in  the  vicinity  of  Twelfth  Street,  and 
the  dingy  shanties  in  that  vicinity  on  Clark 
Street  and  Third  and  Fourth  avenues  will  best 
represent  what  most  of  Chicago  was  in  1848. 
And  here  I  may  as  well  mention  the  sources 
from  which  our  fine  building  materials  are 
derived.  Till  after  that  year  it  was  supposed 
that  we  had  no  good  rock  for  building  anywhere 
near  the  city.  The  blue-limestone  quarries 
from  which  the  stone  for  the  two  dwellings 
above  mentioned  was  taken,  were  thought  to  be 
our  best  and  cheapest  source  of  supply. 
Besides  these,  there  had  been  brought  from 
the  lower  lakes  some  sandstone  flagging.  It 
lay  in  front  of  the  Laflin  residence  block, 
corner  of  Washington  Street  and  Michigan 
Avenue,  where  it  served  for  a  sidewalk  up  to 
the  time  of  the  fire  in  187 1.  Discussions,  held 
for  a  long  time  by  the  trustees  of  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Society,  when  it  was  proposed  to 
build  a  new  church  edifice  in  1 849,  resulted  in 
their  determining  to  use  stone  found  near  the 
western  limits  of  the  city.  The  location  has 
become  somewhat  famous  as  the  site  of  our 
first  artesian  well.  The  rock  is  a  porous  lime- 
stone, with  sufficient  silex  mixed  with  it  to 
make  it  very  hard.     It  seems   to  have  been 


I^illiam  ^to^^ 


formed  under  a  bed  of  bitumen,  or  coal,  for 
the  pores  in  the  rock  are  filled  with  it,  and 
hence  some  of  the  less  porous  stones  in  the 
church  were  of  a  pale  creamy  color,  while 
others  were  so  filled  with  pitch  or  bitumen 
that  it  oozed  out  in  hot  weather,  and  they  were 
as  black  as  tar.  Hence  it  was  called  the 
speckled  or  spotted  church,  a  name  which, 
referring  to  an  unfortunate  occurrence  in  its 
after  history,  my  friend  Sam  Bowles  said  was 
derived  from  its  speckled  morality.  The  same 
rock  was  used  in  rebuilding  the  church  at  the 
corner  of  Twentieth  Street  and  Michigan 
Avenue.  The  use  of  this  rock  was  really  the 
first  important  event  of  the  kind  in  the  building 
history  of  the  city. 

While  this  material  was  regarded  as  a  most 
excellent  one  for  church  purposes,  giving  them 
an  antique  and  venerable  appearance,  it  was 
not  considered  the  thing  for  the  Cook  County 
Courthouse  in  1852  or  '53  —  I  did  not  have 
time  in  this,  as  in  some  other  cases,  to  look  up 
the  exact  date.  Our  wise  men  of  that  ancient 
period,  after  due  deliberation,  determined  to 
use  a  rock  found  at  Lockport,  New  York,  a 
bluish-colored  limestone.  Fortunate  it  was 
that  official  plundering  had  not  then,  as  now, 
been  reduced  to  a  science,  or  the  entire  county 
would  have  been  forever  swamped  in  the  debt 
contracted  for  the  money  to  build  it.  This 
was  regarded  as  the  cheapest  and  best  rock 
that    could    be    had    for    building  —  for    such 


iHemini^ccncc^  of  Cfjicago 

structures  —  and   was  the  second   really   pro- 
gressive step  in  the  building  of  the  city. 

During  all  this  time  it  is  remarkable  that  no 
one  had  thought  of  the  limestone  quarries 
through  which  the  canal  had  been  cut  for 
several  miles  this  side  of  Lockport.  The 
reason  probably  was  that  some  of  the  strata 
were  not  well  crystallized  and  rotted  readily; 
but  tens  of  thousands  of  cords  of  it  that  showed 
no  signs  of  decay  lay  scattered  along  the  canal. 
In  1852  or  1853  some  one,  if  I  mistake  not, 
ex-Mayor  Sherman,  built  a  store  on  Randolph 
Street, —  it  was  afterwards  removed  to  Clark 
Street  opposite  the  Courthouse, — facing  it 
with  this  stone.  Everybody  was  delighted 
with  its  beautiful  color.  It  was  found  to 
become  very  hard  when  seasoned,  and  pro- 
nounced a  marble  by  President  Hitchcock,  of 
Amherst  College.  It  very  soon  came  into 
general  use.  In  December,  1853,  the  Illinois 
Stone  and  Lime  Company  was  formed,  with 
A.  S.  Sherman,  now  of  Waukegan,  as  its 
efficient  manager.  The  next  summer,  Harry 
Newhall  built  two  very  fine  dwellings  of  it  on 
Michigan  Avenue  between  Adams  and  Jackson 
streets,  and  M.  D.  Gilman  followed  with 
another  next  to  Newhall,  and  after  that  its  use 
became  general.  It  is  conceded  to  be  one  of 
the  best  and  most  beautiful  building  materials 
in  the  world.  Cheaply  quarried  and  easily 
accessible  by  water,  Chicago  owes  much  of 
her  prestige  and  prosperity  to  these  Athens 
10 


William  ^to^^ 


marble  quarries.  From  it  also  Chicago  con- 
structs the  best  sidewalks  in  the  world,  for, 
resting  on  an  inner  and  outer  wall,  they  are 
unaffected  by  frost,  and  are  always  smooth 
and  pleasant  to  the  pedestrian.  Before,  and 
especially  since  the  fire,  Chicago  has  drawn 
upon  the  beautiful  sandstone  quarries  of  Ohio; 
the  red  sandstone  of  Connecticut  and  of  Lake 
Superior;  she  has  cheap  access  to  the  marble 
deposits  and  the  granite  of  Vermont,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Minnesota,  150  miles  w^est  of  the 
head  of  Lake  Superior,  and  it  is  now  conceded 
that  no  city  in  the  world  has  a  better  variety 
of  building  material  or  is  making  a  more 
judicious  and  liberal  use  of  it. 

Going  back  to  1848,  after  remaining  a  week 
at  the  City  Hotel,  corner  of  State  and  Lake 
streets,  I  was  admitted  to  a  most  excellent 
home,  that  of  the  late  Rev.  Ira  M.  Weed, 
corner  of  Madison  and  State  streets,  where 
Buck  &  Rayner's  drug-store  now  is.  This 
was  considered  far  south,  and  as  the  sidewalks 
were  not  all  good,  the  best  that  could  be  found 
was  south  on  Dearborn  to  Madison,  where  a 
very  large  sign  on  a  paintshop,  where  the 
Bank  of  Commerce  now  is  and  directly  op- 
posite the  Tribuiie  office,  reminded  me  to  turn 
eastward.  The  sidewalks,  where  such  luxuries 
were  indulged  in,  lay  in  most  cases  upon  the 
rich  prairie  soil,  for  the  stringpieces  of  scant- 
ling, to  which  the  planks  were  originally  spiked, 
would  soon  sink  down  into  the  mud  after  a 
II 


iUcmini^cciitc^  of  Cljicago 

rain,  and  then  as  one  walked,  the  green  and 
black  slime  would  gush  up  between  the  cracks 
to  the  great  benefit  of  retailers  of  blacking. 
One's  disgust  can  be  understood  when  it  is 
stated  that  this  meant  some  minutes  of  active 
personal  service  in  the  morning,  for  this  was 
long  before  the  professional  bootblack  was 
born  —  certainly  before  he  made  his  advent  in 
Chicago. 

In  March,  1849,— I  think  March  was  the 
month, — my  family  having  arrived  per  steamer 
N'iagara  the  August  previous,  we  commenced 
housekeeping  on  Wabash  Avenue  between 
Adams  and  Jackson  streets,  in  a  cozy  little 
house  at  the  modest  rent  of  twelve  dollars  per 
month.  In  May  following  I  bought  of  Judge 
Jesse  B.  Thomas  forty  feet  on  Michigan 
Avenue,  commencing  eighty  feet  south  of  the 
corner  of  Van  Buren  Street,  for  $1,250.  The 
Judge  had  bought  it  at  the  canal  sales  in  the 
spring  of  1848  for  $8oo,  on  canal  time; 
viz., — -as  Dr.  Egan  afterward  directed  in 
taking  his  |)ills, — -one-quarter  down,  balance  in 
one,  two  and  three  years.  I  paid  the  Judge 
his  profit  and  what  he  had  advanced  on  the 
first  payment,  and  assumed  the  balance  due 
the  canal  trustees,  and  took  the  deed  to  me 
directly  from  them.  It  was  in  a  safe  place 
during  the  fire,  and  of  course  is  now  a  very 
ancient  document.  In  the  fall  of  1849  I 
bought  a  small  wood  house  that  I  found 
moving  along  on  Wabash  Avenue,  and  moved 
12 


9^iiliam  ^roifi^ 


it  on  my  lot.  In  this  modest  home  we  spent 
some  six  very  happy  years.  Judge  Manierre 
lived  on  Michigan  Avenue,  corner  of  Jackson 
Street,  where  the  Gardner  House  now  is. 
Harry  Newhall  lived  on  the  block  north. 
Mine  was  the  only  house  on  block  nine,  except 
a  small  tenement  on  the  rear  of  a  neighboring 
lot,  where  lived  an  African  friend  and  brother 
named  William.  There  were  at  first  no  side- 
walks for  a  considerable  distance  north,  and 
hence  we  were  not  troubled  with  promenaders 
on  the  avenue.  The  lake  shore  was  perhaps 
a  hundred  feet  east  of  the  street.  There  my 
brother  John  and  myself,  rising  early  in  the 
morning,  bathed  in  summer  for  two  or  three 
years.  We  had  an  excellent  cow — for  we 
virtually  lived  in  the  country  —  that,  contrary 
to  all  domestic  propriety,  would  sometimes 
wander  away,  and  I  usually  found  her  out  on 
the  prairie  in  the  vicinity  of  Twelfth  Street. 
I  saw  a  wolf  run  by  my  house  as  late  as  1850. 
An  incident  in  the  purchase  of  the  lot  will 
illustrate  the  loneliness  of  our  situation.  The 
rule  of  the  speculators  at  the  canal  sales  was 
to  buy  all  the  property  on  which  the  speculator 
could  make  the  first  payment,  and  then  sell 
enough  each  year  to  make  the  others.  Judge 
Thomas  had  followed  this  plan,  and  advertised 
a  large  list  of  property  in  the  spring  of  1849. 
He  sold  to  myself  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Patterson 
adjoining  lots  at  $1,250  at  private  sale;  but  it 
was  agreed  that  these  should  be  sold  with  the 
13 


^Hcminiisfccitcc^  of  Cljicago 

rest,  so  as  to  attract  customers,  as  Michigan 
Avenue  had  become  somewhat  popular  as  a 
prospective  place  of  residence.  When  my  lot 
wras  struck  off  to  me  for  $1,300,  Harry  New- 
hall  came  across  the  room,  and  said,  "Bross, 
did  you  buy  that  lot  to  live  on?  Are  you 
going  to  improve  it?"  "Yes,"  was  the 
reply.  "Well,"  said  he,  "I'm  glad  of  it; 
I'm  glad  some  one  is  going  to  live  beyond  me. 
It  won't  be  so  lonesome  if  we  can  see  some- 
body going  by  night  and  morning."  We  then 
lived,  as  above  stated,  on  Wabash  Avenue, 
between  Adams  and  Jackson  streets. 

In  the  winter  of  1851-52  my  friend,  the  late 
Charles  Starkweather,  insisted  on  selling  me 
fourteen  acres  of  land  immediately  south  of 
Twenty-sixth  Street,  and  east  of  State  to 
Michigan  Avenue.  Captain  Clement  and  my- 
self went  out  of  town  to  look  at  it,  going  across 
lots  south  of  Twelfth  Street.  It  was  away 
out  on  the  prairie,  and  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  the  price  ($500  per  acre)  was  too  much. 
I  could  raise  the  $i,000  to  make  the  first  pay- 
ment; but  where  was  the  six  per  cent  on  the 
balance  for  the  next  ten  years  to  come  from? 
Captain  Clement  took  the  property,  paid  the 
$1,000,  and,  in  seven  months,  sold  it  for 
$1,000  an  acre,  clearing  in  that  time  $7,000 
on  an  investment  of  $l,000.  But  the  Captain 
let  a  fortune  slip  through  his  hands,  for  that 
fourteen  acres  is  now  valued  by  James  H. 
Reese,    Esq.,    at   $560,000,    or   $40,000   per 

14 


William  25ro^^ 


acre.  In  that  case,  as  in  scores  of  others,  I 
too  just  escaped  getting  rich;  but  I  have  an 
abundance  of  good  company,  for  hundreds  of 
my  fellow-citizens  have  missed  opportunities 
equally  good. 

Take  the  following  instances:  Walter  L. 
Newberry  bought  the  forty  acres  that  form 
his  addition  to  Chicago,  of  Thomas  Hartzell, 
in  1833,  for  $1,062.  It  is  now  valued  at 
$1,000,000.  Major  Kingsbury  had  been  off 
on  an  exploring  expedition  about  this  time,  till 
his  pay  as  an  army  officer,  above  his  immediate 
necessities,  amounted  to  some  six  hundred 
dollars.  A  brother  officer  advised  him  to  salt 
this  down  for  his  two  children.  He  bought  for 
it  160x180  feet  corner  of  Clark  and  Randolph 
streets,  and  twenty-seven  acres  on  the  North 
Branch.  It  is  now  worth  from  $600,000  to 
$1,000,000.  One  quick  at  figures  could  prob- 
ably show  that  at  compound  interest  the  cost 
of  the  land  would  have  realized  much  more 
than  it  is  now  worth.  In  time  this  certainly 
will  be  true;  but  if  the  rents  of  the  land  are 
taken  in  place  of  the  interest,  let  him  who  has 
time  to  make  the  figures  determine  what  would 
have  been  the  more  profitable  investment. 

I  said  we  had  no  pavements  in  1848.  The 
streets  were  simply  thrown  up  as  country 
roads.  In  the  spring,  for  weeks,  portions  of 
them  would  be  impassable.  I  have  at  different 
times  seen  empty  wagons  and  drays  stuck  on 
Lake  and  Water  streets  on  every  block  between 

15 


iUcmini^ccncc^  of  €l):ca0o 

Wabash  Avenue  and  the  river.  Of  course 
there  was  Httle  or  no  business  doing,  for  the 
people  of  the  city  could  not  get  about  much, 
and  the  people  of  the  country  could  not  get  in 
to  do  it.  As  the  cleiics  had  nothing  to  do, 
they  would  exercise  their  wits  by  putting 
boards  from  dry  goods  boxes  in  the  holes 
where  the  last  dray  was  dug  out,  with  signifi- 
cant signs,  as,  "No  Bottom  Here,"  "The 
Shortest  Road  to  China."  Sometimes  one 
board  would  be  nailed  across  another,  and  an 
old  hat  and  coat  fixed  on  it,  with  the  notice 
"On  His  Way  to  the  Lower  Regions."  In 
fact,  there  was  no  end  to  the  fun;  and  jokes 
of  the  boys  of  that  day — some  were  of  larger 
growth  —  were  without  number. 

Our  first  effort  at  paving,  or  one  of  the 
first,  was  to  dig  down  Lake  Street  to  nearly  or 
quite  on  a  level  with  the  lake,  and  then  plank 
it.  It  was  supposed  that  the  sewage  would 
settle  in  the  gutters  and  be  carried  off,  but  the 
experiment  was  a  disastrous  failure,  for  the 
stench  at  once  became  intolerable.  The  street 
was  then  filled  up,  and  the  Common  Council 
established  a  grade  from  two  to  six  or  eight 
feet  above  the  natural  level  of  the  soil.  This 
required  the  streets  to  be  filled  up,  and  for  a 
year  or  two  Chicago  lived  mostly  on  jack- 
screws,  for  the  buildings  had  to  be  raised  as 
well  as  the  streets.  Until  all  the  sidewalks 
were  raised  to  grade,  people  had  to  go  up  and 
down  stairs  from  four  to  half  a  dozen  steps 
16 


William  25ro^^ 


two  or  three  times  in  passing  a  single  block. 
A  Buffalo  paper  got  off  a  note  on  us  to  the 
effect  that  one  of  her  citizens  going  along  the 
street  was  seen  to  run  up  and  down  every  pair 
of  cellar  stairs  he  could  find.  A  friend  asking 
after  his  sanity,  was  told  that  the  walkist  was 
all  right,  but  that  he  had  been  in  Chicago  a 
week,  and,  in  traveling  our  streets,  had  got  so 
accustomed  to  going  up  and  down  stairs  that 
he  got  the  springhalt  and  could  not  help  it. 

The  Court-house  Square  should  not  be  for- 
gotten. On  the  northwest  corner  of  it  stood, 
till  long  after  1848,  the  Jail,  built  "of  logs 
firmly  bolted  together,"  as  the  account  has  it. 
It  was  not  half  large  enough  to  hold  the  alder- 
men that,  if  standing  now,  ought  to  be  in  it,  not 
to  speak  of  the  Whisky  Ring,  and  certainly  it 
was  not  strong  enough  to  keep  them  there. 
The  Courthouse  stood  on  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  Square  —  a  two-story  building  of  brick, 
I  think,  with  offices  in  the  lower  story.  They 
stood  there  until  1853,  when  they  where  torn 
down  to  give  place  to  the  new  building  com- 
pleted in  that  year. 

I  said  we  had  no  gas  when  I  first  came  to 
the  city.  It  was  first  turned  on  and  the  town 
lighted  in  September,  1850.  Till  then  we  had 
to  grope  on  in  the  dark,  or  use  lanterns.  Not 
till  1853  or  '54  did  the  pipes  reach  my  house. 
No.  202  Michigan  Avenue. 

But  the  more  important  element,  water,  and 
its  supply  to  the  city,  have  a  curious  history. 

17 


i!lmiini^caiccjei  of  Cljicago 

In  1848,  Lake  and  Water,  and  perhaps  Ran- 
dolph  streets,  and  the  cross  streets  between 
them   east    of  the   river,  were  suppHed   from 
logs.     James  H.  Woodworth  ran  a  grist-mill 
on  the  north  side  of  Lake  Street  near  the  lake, 
the  engine  for  which  also  pumped  the  water 
into  a  wooden  cistern  that  supplied  the  logs. 
Whenever  the  lake  was  rough  the  water  w^as 
excessively    muddy,   but    in    this    myself    and 
family  had  no  personal  interest,  for  we  lived 
outside  of  the  water  supply.     Wells  were  in 
most  cases  tabooed,  for  the  water  was  bad,  and 
we,  in  common  with  perhaps  a  majority  of  our 
fellow-citizens,  were  forced  to  buy  our  water 
by  the  bucket  or  the  barrel  from  water-carts. 
This  we  did  for  six  years,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  early  part  of  1854  that  water  was  supplied 
to  the  houses  from  the  new  works  upon  the 
North    Side.      But    our   troubles   were    by   no 
means  ended.     The  water  was  pumped  from 
the  lake  shore  the  same  as  in  the  old  works, 
and  hence,  in  storms,  it  was  still  excessively 
muddy.      In   the  spring  and   early   summer  it 
was  impossible  to  keep  the  young  fish  out  of 
the  reservoir,  and  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
to  find   the   unwelcome   frv  sporting  in  one's 
washbowl,  or  dead   and   stuck  in  the   lancets. 
And  besides  they  would  (ind  their  way  into  the 
hot-water    reservoir,    wliere    they    would    get 
stewed  up  into  a  very  nauseous  hsh  chowder. 
The   water   at   such   times   was   not   the  only 
horror  of  all  good  housewives,  but  it  was  justly 
18 


9^iiliam  25ro^^ 


thought  to  be  very  unhealthy.  And,  worse 
than  all  this,  while  at  ordinary  times  there  is  a 
slight  current  on  the  lake  shore  south,  and  the 
water,  though  often  muddy  and  sometimes 
fishy,  was  comparatively  good,  when  the  wind 
blew  strongly  from  the  south,  often  for  several 
days  the  current  was  changed,  and  the  water 
from  the  river,  made  from  the  sewage  mixed 
with  it  into  an  abominably  filthy  soup,  was 
pumped  up  and  distributed  through  the  pipes 
alike  to  the  poorest  street  gamin  and  to  the 
nabobs  of  the  city.  Mind  you,  the  summit 
level  of  the  canal  had  not  then  been  dug  down 
and  the  lake  water  been  turned  south.  The 
Chicago  River  was  the  source  of  all  the  most 
detestably  filthy  smells  that  the  breezes  of 
heaven  can  possibly  float  to  disgusted  olfac- 
tories. Davis'  filters  had  an  active  sale,  and 
those  of  us  who  had  cisterns  betook  ourselves 
to  rain-water — when  filtered,  about  the  best 
water  one  can  possibly  get. 

As  Chicago,  with  all  her  enterprise,  did  not 
attempt  to  stop  the  south  wind  from  blowing, 
and  her  filthy  water  had  become  unendurable, 
it  was  proposed  to  run  a  tunnel  under  the  lake 
to  a  point  two  miles  from  the  shore,  where  the 
water  was  always  pure, — one  of  the  boldest 
and  most  valuable  thoughts  ever  broached  by 
a  civil  engineer, — but  our  able  fellow-citizen, 
E.  S.  Chesbrough,  not  only  planned  but 
carried  out  the  great  enterprise  to  a  successful 
conclusion.     Ground  was  broken  March   17, 

19 


Ilctnmi^caicc^  of  Cljicago 

1864;  it  was  completed  December  6,  1866, 
but  it  was  not  till  March  25,  1867,  that  the 
water  was  let  in  and  began  to  be  pumped  into 
the  pipes  to  supply  the  city.  A  few  words  as 
to  the  way  it  was  constructed :  In  digging 
under  the  city  a  hard  blue  clay  is  reached  at 
the  depth  of  a  few  feet.  Experiments  proved 
that  this  bed  of  hard,  compact  clay  extended 
under  the  lake.  At  the  foot  of  Chicago 
Avenue,  where  it  was  proposed  to  sink  the 
shore  end,  a  bed  of  quicksand  had  to  be  passed 
through.  To  do  this,  cast-iron  cylinders  were 
procured,  nine  feet  long.  The  flanges  by  which 
they  were  to  be  bolted  together  were  on  the 
inside,  so  that  they  could  sink  smoothly  through 
the  sand.  These  were  lowered  successfully, 
as  the  material  from  the  inside  was  taken  out, 
till  the  hardpan  was  reached.  Brick  was  tlien 
used.  The  water  two  miles  from  shore  was 
thirty-five  feet  deep.  In  order  to  start  that 
end  of  the  tunnel  an  octagonal  crib  was  built 
of  square  timber,  framed  and  bolted  firmly 
together,  with  several  water-tight  compart- 
ments and  a  space  in  the  center  left  open 
sufficiently  large  to  receive  the  same  kind  of 
cast-iron  cylinders  as  were  used  at  the  shore 
end.  The  crib  was  nearly  one  hundred  feet  in 
diameter,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  high.  It  was  built  in  the  harbor,  and 
during  a  calm  it  was  towed  out  two  miles  and 
anchored  due  east  of  Chicago  Avenue;  then 
scuttled,  the  compartments  were  filled  with 
20 


William  25ro^^ 


stones  and  it  was  imbedded  firmly  into  the 
mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  lake.  The  cylinders 
were  bolted  together  and  forced  down  into  the 
hardpan,  the  water  was  pumped  out  and  the 
brickwork  was  fairly  commenced.  The  shore 
shaft  was  sunk  ninety  feet,  and  then  at  the 
crib  eighty-five  feet,  and  then  the  workmen  at 
each  end  commenced  excavating  and  bricking 
up  the  tunnel  towards  each  other.  Of  course 
I  need  not  give  more  particulars,  nor  speak  of 
the  four-mile  tunnel  to  the  corner  of  Ashland 
Avenue  and  Twenty-second  Street,  where  new 
pumping  works  are  in  process  of  erection  — 
our  works  on  the  lake  shore  being  found  only 
capable  of  supplying  the  450,000  people  now 
said  to  be  in  the  city.  Chicago  may  well  be 
proud  of  her  water  works,  for  they  are  truly 
splendid,  and  furnish  her  with  an  abundance 
of  as  pure  water  as  can  be  found  in  any  city  in 
the  world. 

We  had  no  sewers  in  1848.  The  first 
attempts  were  made  a  year  or  two  later  with 
oak  plank,  I  think  on  Clark  Street,  I  have  no 
time  nor  space  for  particulars,  but  will  only 
add  that  a  thorough  and  effective  system  has 
been  extended  through  all  the  more  thickly 
settled  portions  of  the  city,  and  the  deepening 
of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  carries  the 
sewage  down  the  Illinois  River,  and,  except 
when  ice  covers  the  canal  and  river  for  many 
weeks,  it  does  no  damage  whatever,  and  does 
not  even  make  itself  known  by  offensive  odors. 
21 


i!tcnimi^cencc^  of  €f)icago 

Our  mails  from  the  East  came  by  steamer 
from  St.  Joseph  or  New  Buffalo,  or  by  stage 
from  the  west  end  of  the  Michigan  railways, 
till  February  20,  1852,  when  the  Michigan 
Southern  was  opened  to  this  city.  Of  course 
during  severe  storms,  while  navigation  was 
open,  and  during  the  winter  and  spring,  when 
the  roads  were  about  impassable,  they  were 
very  irregular.  Sometimes  we  would  be  a 
week  or  two  without  any  news  from  the 
outside  world.  Our  long  winter  evenings  were 
employed  in  reading, — much  more  so  than 
now, — in  attending  lectures  and  debates  at  the 
Mechanics'  Institute,  in  going  to  church,  and 
in  social  life.  Chicago  people  have  always 
had  abundant  means  to  employ  their  time  fully 
and  profitably.  The  postoffice  stood  on  Clark 
Street,  on  the  alley  where  the  north  side  of 
the  Sherman  House  now  is.  It  had  a  single 
delivery  window  a  foot  square,  opening  into  a 
room  with  a  door  on  the  alley,  and  another  on 
Clark  Street.  All  the  city  could  see  the  flag 
flying  from  the  Sherman  House,  when  the  mail 
steamer  from  the  other  side  of  the  lake  was 
signaled.  Each  one  knew  how  long  it  would 
take  her  to  reach  her  dock  and  the  mails  to 
get  distributed.  For  a  long  time  before  the 
delivery  window  would  open,  the  people  would 
begin  to  assemble,  the  first  taking  his  station 
at  the  window  and  the  others  forming  in  line 
through  the  rear  door  into  the  alley,  often  far 
into  the  street,  like  a  long  line  of  voters  at 


9^iniam  25ro^^ 


election.  Here  I  saw  one  clay  an  incident 
which  I  mention  as  a  tribute  to  one  of  the  best 
and  noblest  of  men,  and  as  an  example  for  all 
of  us  to  follow.  At  one  time  when  we  had 
been  without  mail  for  a  week  or  more,  I  stood 
in  the  line  perhaps  a  dozen  from  the  window 
and  Robert  Stewart  two  or  three  ahead  of  me. 
Just  as  the  window  opened  and  the  column 
began  to  move,  a  woman,  poorly  clad  and 
evidently  a  foreigner,  rushed  in  at  the  front 
door,  and,  casting  her  eye  down  that  long  line 
of  men,  the  muscles  of  her  face  twitched  and 
she  trembled  with  anxiety.  She  evidently 
expected  a  letter  from  dear  ones  far  away  over 
the  broad  Atlantic.  Not  a  word  was  uttered 
by  the  crowd,  and  there  she  stood,  waiting  in 
agony  for  the  crowd  to  pass  by,  till  it  came  to 
Mr.  Stewart's  turn.  With  a  kindly  wave  of  the 
hand  he  said,  "Come  here,  my  good  woman," 
and,  placing  her  directly  in  front  of  him,  she 
grasped  her  letter,  and  with  a  suppressed 
"Thank  the  Lord  and  you,  sir,"  she  left,  the 
most  happy  person  in  the  crowd.  Any  man 
might  do  such  an  act  for  a  lady  in  silks;  but 
only  a  noble.  Christian  gentleman  like  Robert 
Stewart  would  do  it  for  a  poor,  forlorn  woman 
in  calico. 

There  was  not  a  railway  entering  the  city 
from  any  direction  in  1848.  Some  strap  rails 
were  laid  down  that  fall,  or  during  the  winter 
following,  on  the  Galena  &  Chicago,  now  the 
North  Western,  and  in  1850,  through  the 
23 


JHcitiiiu^ccticc^  of  €!)ica0o 

personal  endorsement  of  ex-Mayor  B.  W. 
Raymond  and  Captain  John  B.  Turner,  men 
to  whom  Chicago  is  greatly  indebted,  it  reached 
Elgin,  forty  miles  westward.  So  cheaply  and 
honestly  was  it  built,  and  from  the  time  it  was 
finished  to  Elgin,  forty  miles,  so  large  and 
lucrative  was  its  business,  that  it  paid  large 
dividends,  and  demonstrated  that  Illinois  rail- 
ways could  be  made  profitable  investments. 
It  became,  in  fact,  the  parent  of  the  vast 
railway  system  of  the  West.  It  was  marvel- 
ous how  rapidly  railways  were  projected  in  all 
directions,  and  how  quickly  they  were  built. 

The  Michigan  Southern  Railway  was  the 
first  great  eastern  line  to  reach  this  city,  which 
it  did  on  the  20th  of  February,  1852.  The 
Michigan  Central  was  opened  May  20th  of 
the  same  year.  These  gave  a  very  great 
impulse  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the 
city.  These  were  times  when  the  coming  of 
great  enterprises  seemed  to  fill  the  air,  and 
the  men  were  found  who  where  ready  to  grasp 
and  execute  them.  The  necessity  of  binding 
the  South  and  the  North  together  by  iron  bands 
had  been  broached  and  talked  of,  in  Congress 
and  elsewhere  in  1848,  and  a  few  sagacious 
men  had  suggested  the  granting  of  alternate 
sections  of  the  public  lands  to  aid  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  road  as  the  only  means  by 
which  it  could  be  built.  It  had  worked  admir- 
ably in  the  case  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  importance 
24 


William  ^ro^^a^ 


of  the  work  would  justify  a  similar  grant  in  aid 
of  a  great  through  line  from  the  Lakes  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  With  the  characteristic  fore- 
cast and  energy  of  her  citizens,  Chicago 
furnished  the  man  who  combined  all  interests 
and  furnished  the  friends  of  the  measure  in 
Congress  the  means  to  carry  it.  That  man 
was  John  S.  Wright,  who,  as  before  stated, 
was  one  of  the  most  far-seeing  and  valuable 
citizens  Chicago  ever  had.  The  whirl  and 
excitement  in  which  he  lived  clouded  his  mind 
toward  the  close  of  his  life;  but  if  any  one 
among  our  earlier  citizens  deserves  a  monu- 
ment to  his  memory,  that  man  is  John  S. 
Wright.  I  had  the  same  office  with  him  in 
1849,  ^rid  hence  know  personally  of  what  I 
speak.  At  his  own  expense  he  printed 
thousands  of  circulars,  stating  briefly,  but  with 
sufficient  fullness,  the  arguments  in  favor  of 
building  the  road,  its  effect  upon  the  commerce 
and  the  social  and  political  welfare  of  the 
Union;  that  in  granting  the  lands  the  Govern- 
ment would  lose  nothing,  as  the  alternate 
sections  would  at  once  command  double  the 
price  of  both.  To  this  a  petition  to  Congress 
to  make  the  grant  was  attached.  At  that  time 
such  mail  matter  went  free  to  postmasters,  and 
with  a  small  circular  asking  them  to  interest 
themselves  in  getting  signers  to  the  petitions, 
or  to  put  them  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
would,  Mr.  Wright  (giving  employment  to  his 
clerk  for  weeks)  sent  two  or  three  of  them  to 
25 


Jttmiim^ceiicc^  of  €l)irago 

every  postmaster  between  the  Lakes  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
session  of  1849-50  these  petitions  began  to 
pour  into  Congress  by  the  thousands,  and  still 
all  through  the  summer  of  1 849  they  kept 
coming.  Members  from  all  sections  stood 
aghast  at  this  deluge  of  public  opinion  that 
seemed  about  to  overwhelm  them,  unless  they 
at  once  passed  a  law  making  a  grant  of  lands 
to  the  states  to  open  a  railway  from  Chicago 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Our  senators,  Douglas 
and  Shields,  and  representatives,  Wentworth 
and  others,  saw  their  opportunity,  and  the  bill 
was  passed  on  the  20th  day  of  September, 
1850.  On  the  lOth  of  February,  1 851,  the 
Illinois  Legislature  chartered  the  company, 
and  its  construction  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  Colonel  R.  B.  Mason.  I  need  not  add  that 
a  better  selection  could  not  possibly  have  been 
made. 

Permit  me  to  say  here,  by  way  of  paren- 
thesis, that  omnibuses  and  horse-cars  were 
introduced  nearly  ten  years  after  this  time. 
The  City  Railway  Company  was  chartered 
February  14,  1859.  Pardon  the  remark,  that 
whatever  honor  attaches  to  driving  the  first 
spike  belongs  to  your  speaker.  It  was  done 
on  State,  corner  of  Randolph.  The  road 
reached  Twelfth  Street  on  the  25th  of  April, 
1859,  only  seventeen  years  ago.  Now  the 
whole  city  is  gridironcd  with  them,  and  they 
are  essential  to  its  business  life. 
26 


William  ^to^^ 


I  should  like  to  give  you  the  history  of  the 
Rock  Island,  the  Alton  &  St.  Louis,  the  Bur- 
lington &  Quincy,  the  Pittsburgh  &  Fort 
Wayne,  and  other  roads,  but  time  and  space 
forbid.  For  several  years  succeeding  1854 
the  leading  men  of  Chicago  had  to  endure  a 
great  deal  of  eating  and  drinking,  as  our  rail- 
ways were  opened  to  cities  in  all  directions; 
and  for  this  service,  as  for  all  others,  they 
showed  a  capacity  and  willingness,  as  well  as 
a  modesty,  which  has  made  them  distinguished 
all  over  the  country.  On  the  lOth  of  May, 
1869,  the  Central  and  Union  Pacific  railways 
joined  rails  at  Promontory  Point,  thus  com- 
pleting the  grand  railway  system  across  the 
continent.  And  here  I  may  be  permitted  the 
incidental  remark  that  we  who  live  with  them, 
and  enjoy  the  first  fruits  of  their  enterprise,  do 
not  sufficiently  honor  the  men  who  bridge  our 
great  rivers  and  bind  every  section  of  the  Union 
together  in  bands  of  iron  and  steel,  never  to  be 
broken, — such  men  as  Wm.  B.  Ogden,  John 
B.  Turner,  R.  B.  Mason,  Thomas  C.  Durant, 
Leland  Stanford,  and  scores  of  others  that 
might  be  named.  History  shows  that  it  was 
not  only  the  men  who  bore  the  victorious  eagles 
of  old  Rome  through  distant  nations,  but  who 
built  roads  to  connect  them  with  the  Eternal 
City,  that  received  the  highest  honors.  Thus 
it  was  that  great  national  thoroughfares  were 
built  thousands  of  miles  long,  from  the  North 
to  the  Black  Sea,  and  as  in  that  case  all  roads 
27 


Bmiini^cmcc^  of  €l)icago 

pointed  towards  Rome,  so  at  least  nine-tenths 
of  all  the  roads  in  all  this  broad  land  point  to 
Chicago.  Do  you  know  that  the  title  even 
now  worn  by  the  Pope  of  Rome  has  come 
down  to  him  from  those  old  road-builders? 
Pontifex  Maximus  simply  means  the  greatest 
bridge-builder,  the  proudest,  and  thus  far  the 
most  enduring,  title  ever  worn  by  earthly 
monarch.  Let  our  city  honor  the  men  for 
making  Chicago  commercially  in  this  centen- 
nial year  what  imperial  Rome  was  politically 
in  past  ages.  While  we  give  all  honor  to 
these  men,  let  not  the  name  of  John  S.  Wright 
be  forgotten,  who,  addressing  himself  to  even 
the  greater  work,  in  1849,  combined  and  gave 
direction  to  the  political  and  moral  forces  that 
enabled  them  to  complete  the  grandest  system 
of  improvements  ever  made  in  the  history  of 
the  world. 

You  will  expect  me  to  say  something  of  the 
press  of  the  city.  In  1848  the  /oiirnal  \\d.d 
rooms  in  what  was  then  the  Saloon  Building, 
on  the  southeast  corner  of  Clark  and  Lake 
streets.  The  Gem  of  the  Prairie,  and  the 
Tribune,  as  its  daily,  maintained  a  precarious 
existence  in  an  old  wooden  shanty  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  Lake  and  Clark  streets. 
Messrs.  Wheeler,  Stewart,  and  Scripps  were 
the  editors.  It  was  burned  out,  and  then 
located  at  No.  1713^2  Lake  Street.  My  friend 
the  Honorable  John  Wcntworth  published  the 
De//iocrat  in  very  aristocratic  quarters  —  at 
28 


William  ^to00 


Jackson  Hall,  on  La  Salle  Street,  just  south 
of  Lake.  He  had  the  only  Hoe  power  press 
in  the  city.  In  the  fall  of  1849,  finding  I 
preferred  my  old  occupation  of  using  books 
rather  than  of  selling  them,  I  disposed  of  my 
interest  in  the  book-store  to  my  partners.  It 
was  the  original  of  the  great  house  of  Jansen, 
McClurg  and  Company.  The  leading  member 
of  the  firm  now — my  brother-in-law — I  left 
in  the  store  a  mere  boy,  whose  duties  were  to 
sweep  out,  carry  packages,  and  generally  to 
do  a  boy's  business.  I  mention  this  as  an 
example  for  the  boys  who  hear  me  to  follow. 
I  then  formed  a  partnership  with  J.  Ambrose 
Wight,  then  editor  of  the  Prairie  Farmer, — 
a  most  valuable  paper  owned  by  John  S. 
Wright, — and  we  bought  out  the  Herald  of 
the  Prairies,  a  religous  paper,  the  organ  alike 
of  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  of 
the  Northwest.  The  latter  half  of  the  concern 
survives  in  the  Advance.  It  was  then  published 
on  Wells  Street,  on  the  corner  of  the  alley 
between  Lake  and  Randolph  streets.  We 
soon  moved  to  171  Lake  Street,  next  door  to 
the  Tribune;  and  in  the  rear  building,  on  an 
old  Adams  press,  the  first  power  press  ever 
brought  to  the  city,  we  printed  our  own  paper, 
and  also  the  Tribune,  for  Messrs.  Stewart, 
Wheeler  &  Scripps.  The  press  was  driven 
by  Emery's  horsepower,  on  which  traveled, 
hour  by  hour,  an  old  black  Canadian  pony. 
So  far  as  my  interest  in  the  splendid  machinery 
29 


Jltcitiitu^fcncc^  of  Cljicago 

of  the  Tribune  is  concerned,  that  old  blind  pony 
ground  out  its  beginnings,  tramping  on  the 
revolving  platform  of  Emery's  horse-power. 

By  the  autumn  of  185 1  Mr.  Wight,  a  man 
who,  as  editor  of  the  Prairie  Far?/icr,  did 
very  much  toward  laying  the  foundations  of 
the  rapid  progress  and  the  great  prosperity  of 
the  West,  and  now  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Bay  City,  Michigan,  and  myself, 
found  out  by  sad  experience  that  the  Prairie 
Herald,  as  we  then  called  it,  could  not  be 
made  to  support  two  families,  for  we  had 
scarcely  paid  current  expenses.  I  therefore 
sold  out  to  Mr.  Wight,  taking  in  payment  his 
homestead  lots  on  Harrison  Street.  That 
winter  rather  than  have  nothing  to  do  I 
remained  in  his  olfice  with  him,  working  for 
the  large  sum  of  one  dollar  per  day.  After  a 
vacation  of  a  few  months,  the  late  John  L. 
Scripps  and  myself  formed  a  partnership  and 
issued  the  first  number  of  the  Pnnoerafic 
Press  on  the  1 6th  of  September,  1852.  W^e 
started  on  a  borrowed  ca]3ital  of  $6,000,  which 
all  disappeared  from  sight  in  about  six  weeks. 
We  put  in  all  our  services  and  profits,  and 
about  all  the  money  we  could  borrow,  never 
drawing  a  cent  from  the  firm  till  after  the 
first  of  January,  1855.  This  required  nerve 
and  the  using  up  of  funds,  to  a  very  consider- 
able amount,  which  we  had  obtained  from  the 
sale  of  real  estate;  but  we  thought  we  could 
see  future  profit  in  the  business  and  we 
30 


9^illiam  ^ro^^ 


worked  on,  never  heeding  discouragements 
for  a  moment.  The  hard  times  of  1857-58 
brought  the  JDemocratic  Press  and  the  Tribune 
together,  and  Dr.  Ray,  J.  Medill,  John  L. 
Scripps  and  myself  became  equal  partners, 
with  Mr.  Cowles  as  business  manager.  Dr. 
Ray  and  Mr,  Scripps  have  ceased  from  their 
labors,  but  not  till  they  had  done  most  effective 
and  valuable  work  in  the  development  and 
progress  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Scripps  was  post- 
master during  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  adminis- 
tration. Both  he  and  Dr.  Ray  were  able  and 
very  cultivated  gentlemen,  and  the  memory  of 
them  should  have  a  high  place  in  the  esteem 
and  gratitude  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Mr. 
Medill,  Mr,  Cowles,  and  myself  still  stand 
by  the  old  Tribiaie,  with  what  efficiency  and 
success  the  reading  public  can  best  judge. 

I  should  like  to  have  an  hour  to  pay  a 
passing  tribute  to  the  men  who  gave  character 
to  Chicago  in  1848  and  the  years  that  followed. 
To  Thomas  Richmond,  still  with  us;  to  John 
P.  Chapin,  Charles  Walker  and  Captain  Bristol, 
heavy  dealers  on  Water  Street;  to  Judge  Giles 
Spring,  Judge  George  Manierre,  S.  Lisle 
Smith,  William  H.  Brown,  George  W.  Meeker, 
Daniel  Mcllroy,  James  H.  Collins,  and  others 
of  the  bench  and  bar;  to  Drs.  Maxwell,  Egan 
and  Brainard;  to  Editors  Dick  Wilson,  T.  A. 
Stewart,  John  E.  Wheeler,  and  James  F. 
Ballantyne,  as  well  as  to  Ray  and  Scripps;  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Tucker,  Parson  Barlow,  and 
31 


^cmimsccnce^  of  €l)ica0o 

perhaps  several  others  of  the  clergy.  I  should 
like  to  speak  of  Mayors  F.  C.  Sherman,  James 
Curtiss,  J.  H.  Wood  worth,  and  Thomas  Dyer, 
all  of  whom  have  been  relieved  of  earthly  cares. 
Many  of  our  oldest  citizens  still  linger  among 
us.  Of  these  Colonel  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard 
first  came  to  Chicago  in  i8i8,  the  year  Illinois 
became  a  state.  Still  hale  and  happy,  may  he 
long  bless  Chicago  with  his  presence.  Of 
our  ex-mayors  previous  to  i860,  William  B. 
Ogden,  the  first,  Buckner  S.  Morris,  B.  W. 
Raymond,  Walter  S.  Gurnee,  Charles  M.  Gray, 
Isaac  L.  Miliken,  Levi  D.  Boone,  John  Went- 
worth,  and  John  C.  Haines  are  still  living. 
Of  the  clergy  we  still  have  the  Rev.  Dr.  R. 
W.  Patterson,  "Whose  praise,"  like  one  of 
old,  "is  in  all  the  churches."  Of  our  leading 
citizens  we  still  have  a  host,  almost  too  nu- 
merous to  mention.  The  names  of  Jerome 
Beecher,  General  Webster,  Timothv  and  Walter 
Wright,  S.  B.  Cobb,  Orrington  Lunt,  Philo 
Carpenter,  Frederick  and  Nelson  TuLtle,  Peter 
L.  Yoe,  C.  N.  Holden,  Charles  L.  and  John 
Wilson,  E.  H.  Haddock,  E.  D.  Taylor,  Judge 
J.  D.  Caton,  J.  Y.  Scammon,  Grant  Goodrich, 
E.  B.  and  Mancel  Talcott,  Mahlon  D.  Ogden, 
E.  H.  Sheldon,  Mat.  Latlin,  James  H.  Reese, 
C.  H.  McCormick  and  brothers,  P.  W.  Gates, 
A.  Pierce,  T.  B.  Carter,  General  S.  L.  Brown, 
Peter  Page,  William  Locke,  Buckner  S.  Morris, 
Captain  Bates,  and  many  others,  will  at  once 
recur  to  our  older  citizens. 
32 


William  ^to^^ 


Some  of  these  gentlemen  were  not  quite  so 
full  of  purse  when  they  came  here  as  now. 
Standing  in  the  parlor  of  the  Merchants' 
Savings,  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  five  or  six 
years  ago,  talking  with  the  president,  Sol.  A. 
Smith,  E.  H.  Haddock,  Dr.  Foster,  and  per- 
haps two  or  three  others,  in  came  Mr.  Cobb, 
smiling  and  rubbing  his  hands  in  the  greatest 
glee.  "Well,  what  makes  vou  so  happy?" 
said  one.  "Oh,"  said  Cobb,  "this  is  the  first 
day  of  June,  the  anniversary  of  my  arrival  in 
Chicago  in  1833."  "Yes,"  said  Haddock, 
"the  first  time  I  saw  you,  Cobb,  you  were 
bossing  a  lot  of  Hoosiers  weatherboarding  a 
shanty-tavern  for  Jim  Kinzie."  "Well," 
Cobb  retorted,  in  the  best  of  humor,  "you 
needn't  put  on  any  airs,  for  the  first  time  I 
saw  you,  you  were  shingling  an  outhouse." 
Jokes  and  early  reminiscences  were  then  in 
order.  It  transpired  that  our  solid  president 
of  the  South  Side  Horse  Railway  left  Mont- 
pelier,  Vermont,  with  forty  dollars  in  his  pocket, 
but  by  some  mishap  when  he  reached  Buffalo 
he  had  only  nine  dollars  left.  This  was  exactly 
the  fare  on  the  schooner  to  Chicago,  but  the 
captain  told  him  he  might  buy  some  provisions, 
and  if  he  would  make  no  trouble  and  sleep  on 
deck  the  boy  could  come  to  Chicago  for  what 
was  left.  Cobb  got  some  sheeting,  which 
some  lady  fellow-passengers  sewed  up  for  him, 
and  he  filled  it  with  shavings,  and  this  made 
his  bed  on  deck.     He  got  a  ham,  had  it  boiled, 

33 


iilmiini^caicc.0  of  Cljicago 

bought  some  bread,  and,  thus  equipped  and 
provisioned,  he  set  sail  for  Chicago.  There 
was  then  no  entrance  to  the  Chicago  River, 
and  the  vessel  anchored  outside,  a  long  way 
out,  and  the  cabin  passengers  went  ashore  with 
the  captain  in  a  Mackinaw  boat.  A  storm 
springing  up,  the  mate  lay  off  for  three  days 
between  Michigan  City  and  Waukegan.  When 
the  vessel  returned,  a  cabin  passenger,  who  had 
returned  for  baggage,  was  surprised  to  find 
Cobb  still  aboard.  Cobb  told  him  that  the 
captain  had  gone  back  on  him,  and  would  not 
let  him  go  ashore  without  the  other  three 
dollars,  and  what  to  do  he  did  not  know.  This 
gentleman  lent  him  the  three  dollars,  and  Cobb 
gladly  came  ashore.  Though  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  carpenter's  trade,  he  accepted  a  situation 
to  boss  some  Hoosiers,  who  were  at  work  on 
Mr.  Kinzie's  excuse  for  a  hotel,  at  $2.75  ]:)er 
day,  and  soon  paid  his  friend.  From  that  time 
to  this  he  has  seldom  borrowed  any  money. 
Mr.  Haddock  also  came  to  Chicago,  I  think, 
as  a  small  grocer,  and  now  these  gentlemen 
are  numbered  among  our  millionaires.  Young 
men,  the  means  by  which  they  have  achieved 
success  are  exceedingly  simple.  They  have 
sternly  avoided  all  mere  speculation;  they  have 
attended  closely  to  legitimate  business  and 
invested  any  accumulating  surplus  in  real  estate. 
Go  ye  and  do  likewise,  and  your  success  will 
be  equally  sure. 

Having    seen    Chicago    in     1 848    witli    no 

34 


William  ^to^^ 


railways,  no  pavements,  no  sewers,  scarcely 
an  apology  for  waterworks — a  mere  city  of 
shanties  built  on  the  black  prairie  soil — the 
temptation  to  imagine  for  her  a  magnificent 
future  is  almost  irresistible. 

I  beg  leave  with  characteristic  Chicago 
modesty  to  refer  to  a  prophecy  which  I  ventured 
to  make  in  1854.  I  had  just  written  and 
published  the  first  exhaustive  account  of  our 
railway  system,  followed  by  a  history — the 
first  also — of  the  city.  In  the  closing  paragraph 
I  had  the  following  sentences.  The  city  had 
then  not  quite  completed  the  seventeenth  year 
of  its  existence,  and  I  asked: 

"What  will  the  next  seventeen  years  accom- 
plish? We  are  now  (1854)  in  direct  railroad 
connection  with  all  the  Atlantic  cities  from 
Portland  to  Baltimore.  Five,  at  most  eight, 
years  will  extend  the  circle  to  New  Orleans. 
By  that  time  also  we  shall  shake  hands  with  the 
rich  copper  and  iron  mines  of  Lake  Superior, 
both  by  canal  and  railroad,  and  long  ere 
another  seventeen  years  have  passed  away  we 
shall  have  a  great  national  railroad  from 
Chicago  to  Puget  Sound,  with  a  branch  to 
San  Francisco." 

By  the  time  the  building  of  the  road  was 
fairly  undertaken,  San  Francisco  had  grown  so 
largely  in  wealth  and  population  that  the  main 
line  was  forced  to  that  city.  But  in  June,  1869, 
two  years  before  the  thirty-four  years  in  the 
life  of  the  city  had  passed  away,  I  rode  from 

35 


ll!miinisfccncc^  of  Cljicago 

Chicago  to  Sacramento  with  my  good  friend 
George  M.  Pulhiian  in  one  of  his  splendid 
palace  cars,  with  a  dining  car  attached,  and  no 
one  could  possibly  fare  better  than  we  did  on 
the  entire  trip.  Another  line  was  open  from 
Sacramento  to  Vallejo,  nearly  right  across  the 
bay  from  the  City  of  the  Golden  Gate,  so  that 
practically  the  prophecy  was  literally  fulfilled. 
Perhaps  it  was  only  a  fortunate  guess,  and  as 
I  was  educated  in  New  England,  you  will 
permit  me  to  guess  again,  and  to  bound  the 
city  for  you  on  the  nation's  second  centennial; 
viz.,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1 976.  I  think  the 
north  line  will  probably  begin  on  the  lake  shore 
half-way  between  Evanston  and  Winnetka,  and 
run  due  west  to  a  point  a  least  a  mile  west  of 
the  Aux  Plaines  River;  thence  due  south  to 
an  east  and  west  line  that  will  include  Blue 
Island,  and  thence  southeast  from  Blue  Island 
to  the  Indiana  State  line,  and  thence  on  that 
line  to  Lake  Michigan.  With  my  eye  on  the 
vast  country  tributary  to  the  city,  I  estimate 
that  Chicago  will  then  contain  at  least  3,000,000 
of  people,  and  I  would  sooner  say  4,000,000 
than  any  less  than  3,000,000.  I  base  my 
opinions  on  the  fact  that  the  gastronomic 
argument  controls  mankind.  Men  will  go  and 
live  where  they  can  get  the  most  and  best  food 
for  the  least  labor.  In  this  respect  what  city 
in  the  world  can  compete  with  Chicago?  And 
I  also  assume  that  the  nation  for  the  next 
hundred  years  will  remain  one  united,  free  and 
happy  people. 

36 


9^illiam  ^ro^.0 


But,  gentlemen,  in  order  to  realize  the 
magnificent  destiny  which  Providence  seems  to 
have  marked  out  for  our  city,  permit  me  to 
say,  in  conclusion,  that  the  moral  and  religious 
welfare  of  the  city  must  be  carefully  guarded 
and  promoted.  Philo  Carpenter  (still  among 
us)  and  Captain  Johnson  established  the  first 
Sunday  school  here  July  30,  1832,  and  the 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter  (also  still  living)  organized 
and  became  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  (now  Dr.  Mitchell's)  on  the  26th  of 
June,  1833.  Brave  old  Jesse  Walker,  the 
pioneer  Methodist,  also  preached  sound  doctrine 
in  the  earliest  years  of  the  Town  of  Chicago. 
All  other  denominations  were  also  on  the 
ground  early,  and  through  all  her  former  history 
our  people  seemed  as  active  and  earnest  in 
religious  efforts  as  they  were  enterprising  and 
successful  in  mercantile  and  other  businesses. 
Let  all  our  churches  address  themselves 
earnestly,  faithfully,  to  the  work  of  moralizing — 
if  you  please,  converting — the  people,  working 
as  their  Divine  Master  would  have  them  work; 
let  respectable  men,  honest  men,  and  especially 
religious  men,  go  to  the  polls,  and  banish  from 
places  of  trust  and  power  those  who  are  steal- 
ing their  substance  and  corrupting,  aye,  even 
poisoning,  the  very  life-blood  of  the  city;  let 
us  all,  my  friends,  do  our  whole  duty  as 
citizens  and  as  men,  ever  acting  upon  the 
Divine  maxims  that  "Righteousness  exalteth  a 
nation,"  that  "Godliness  is  profitable  for  all 

37 


iUcmiui.Bccnccsf  of  Cljicago 

things,"  and  with  God's  blessing  Chicago,  as 
in  the  past,  so  in  the  future,  shall  far  outstrip 
in  wealth,  population,  and  power  all  the  antici- 
pations of  her  most  enthusiastic  and  sanguine 
citizens. 


38 


[Extracts  from  articles  which  appeared  first  in 
The  Chicago  Tribune.] 


TO  the  south  of  the  village  was  an  almost 
interminable  prairie,  said  to  be  three 
hundred  miles  in  length,  with  only  one 
small  belt  of  timber  to  break  the  monotony  of  its 
level  surface,  reaching,  as  we  were  told,  to  the 
most  southern  point  of  the  state,  to  which  you 
could  travel  by  crossing  only  that  one  small 
belt  of  timber,  before  mentioned,  not  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  in  width.  The  country  immediately 
around  the  village  was  very  low  and  wet,  the 
banks  of  the  river  not  being  more  than  three 
or  four  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water.  More 
than  one-third  of  the  river  was  covered  with 
wild  rice,  leaving  but  a  small  stream  in  the 
center. 

Parties  informed  us  that  in  the  spring  we 
should  find  it  almost  impossible  to  get  around 
for  the  mud  —  truth  very  forcibly  illustrated 

^  Mr.  Cleaver  came  to  Chicago  in  1833,  and 
although  we  have  in  the  main  taken  the  portion 
of  his  reminiscences  dealing  with  conditions  in  the 
forties  and  fifties,  occasionally  items  of  an  earlier 
period  occur.  At  the  point  where  our  selections 
begin,  he  had  been  leading  up  to  the  gradual 
emancipation  of  Chicago  from  the  level  of  Lake 
Michigan. —  Ed. 

39 


iHmiitti^ccnct^  of  Cijicago 

when  a  few  months  later  I  got  into  a  wagon 
to  go  about  a  mile  and  a  half  northwest,  to  a 
house  Daniel  Elston  was  building  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river.  It  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  two  good  horses  could  pull  the 
empty  wagon  through  the  two  feet  of  mud  and 
water  across  the  prairie  we  had  to  pass.  I 
once  heard  Mr.  Elston's  place  called  "The 
Mud  Farm,"  not  an  inappropriate  name  for  it 
at  that  time.  A  year  or  two  later  I  saw  many 
teams  stuck  fast  in  the  streets  of  the  village. 

I  remember,  once,  a  stage-coach  got  mired 
on  Clark  Street,  opposite  the  present  Sherman 
House,  where  it  remained  several  days,  with 
a  board  driven  in  the  mud  at  the  side  of  it 
bearing  this  inscription:  "No  bottom  here." 
I  once  saw  a  lady  stuck  in  the  mud  in  the 
middle  of  Randolph  Street  at  the  crossing  of 
La  Salle.  She  was  evidently  in  need  of  help, 
as  every  time  she  moved  she  sank  deeper  and 
deeper.  An  old  gentleman  from  the  country, 
seeing  the  situation,  offered  to  help  her,  which 
had  such  an  effect  upon  her  modesty  that  with 
one  desperate  effort  she  drew  her  feet  out  minus 
her  shoes,  which  were  afterward  found  over  a 
foot  deep  in  the  mire,  and  reached  the  side- 
walk in  her  stockings.  I  could  tell  innumerable 
tales  of  the  dreadfully  muddy  roads  we  had  to 
encounter,  but  a  few  such  will  suffice. 

In  1838  or  1839  ^^^^  O'lly  way  two  of  our 
most  fashionable  young  ladies  from  the  North 
Side  could  get  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  on 
40 


€()arle^  Clearer 


Clark  Street  near  Lake  was  by  riding  in  a 
dung-cart,  with  robes  thrown  on  the  bottom 
on  which  they  sat.  I  once  saw  those  same 
ladies  dumped  on  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the 
church  through  the  negligence  of  their  driver 
in  not  putting  in  the  bolt. 

Another  story,  told  in  a  lecture  given  by 
James  A.  Marshall,  is  rather  more  than  I  can 
vouch  for.  It  w^as  this:  That  our  minister, 
who  was  then  a  young  bachelor,  in  walking 
home  with  a  young  lady  from  Wednesday  even- 
ing meeting,  got  into  a  slough,  and  in  their 
endeavors  to  extricate  themselves  kept  sinking 
deeper  and  deeper,  until  they  were  more  than 
waist-deep  in  mud  and  water,  and  that  it  was 
only  from  their  screaming  for  help  that  assist- 
ance came  and  saved  them  from  a  muddy  and 
watery  grave. 

I  know  of  no  slough  that  was  deep  enough 
for  that  except  one  running  south  from  the 
river  about  State  Street,  gradually  lessening  to 
about  Adams  Street.  There  was  also  a  very 
wet  spot;  or  slough,  on  Clark  Street  south  of 
Washington.  The  village  trustees,  wishing  to 
drain  it  and  having  no  fund  on  hand,  applied 
to  Strachan  &  Scott,  the  first  brokers  that 
came  here,  for  a  loan  of  $6o;  but  the  wary 
Scotchmen  refused  to  let  them  have  it  unless 
E.  B.  Williams  endorsed  it,  which  he  did.  This 
was  probably  the  first  loan  made  by  the  city 
of  Chicago.  Compare  it  with  the  millions  she 
has  borrowed  since.     What  a  contrast! 

41 


J5cmini,0ccncc^  of  €l)icago 

Before  leaving  the  subject,  I  must  say  a 
few  words  respecting  tlie  early  efforts  of  our 
city  fathers  to  effectually  drain  the  village.  As 
I  have  said  before,  Chicago  was  very  low  and 
exceedingly  wet.  The  first  effort  made  was  on 
Lake  Street,  where,  after  mature  deliberation, 
our  village  solons  passed  an  ordinance  for  the 
digging  out  of  the  street  to  the  depth  of  three 
feet — a  little  the  deeper  in  the  center.  This 
naturally  drained  the  lots  contiguous  to  it,  and 
on  being  covered  with  long,  heavy  planks,  or 
timber,  running  from  the  sidewalk  to  the  center 
of  the  roadway,  for  a  few  months  after  it  was 
finished  made  a  very  good  street;  but  it  was 
soon  found  that  heavy  teams  going  over  it 
worked  the  timbers  into  the  mud,  and  it  was 
consequently  squash,  squash,  until  at  last,  in  wet 
weather,  the  mud  would  splash  up  into  the 
horses'  faces,  and  the  plan  was  condemned  as 
a  failure.  It  was  tried  two  or  three  years, 
when  the  planks  were  removed,  and  it  was  filled 
up  two  or  three  feet  above  the  original  surface. 
This  was  found  to  work  better,  as  it  naturally 
would,  and  the  same  system  of  filling  up  has 
been  continued  from  time  to  time,  until  some 
of  the  streets  are  five  or  six  feet  above  the 
original  surface  of  the  prairie.  The  filling  up 
answered  a  double  purpose,  as  it  not  only  made 
better  roads,  but  it  enabled  the  owners  of  the 
adjoining  lots  to  have  good  cellars  without  going 
much  below  the  level  of  the  prairie,  thus  getting 
a  drainage  into  the  river. 
42 


€!)arlc)^  €lcaber 


The  first  year  or  two  we  were  here  there  was 
not  a  cellar  in  Chicago.  A  good  joke  was  told 
about  the  first  brick  Tremont  House  that  was 
put  up.  Of  course  it  was  at  first  built  to  the 
grade  of  that  period;  but  as  the  grade  was  every 
now  and  then  established  higher  and  still  higher, 
it  at  last  left  the  hotel  three  or  four  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  road  in  front  of  it,  and  steps 
were  built  around  it  both  on  Lake  and  Dearborn 
streets  for  the  convenience  of  persons  going 
there  or  passing  along  the  sidewalk. 

A  wag  of  a  fellow  from  New  Orleans,  while 
visiting  here,  wrote  back  to  his  paper  that  they 
need  not  talk  any  more  about  the  low  land  of 
New  Orleans,  for  Chicago  had  got  a  brick  hotel 
five  stories  high  that  was  so  heavy  that  it  had 
sunk  into  the  soft  soil  several  feet,  and  had 
forced  the  ground  up  into  the  street  around 
it.  I  must  say  it  had  that  appearance.  The 
building  was  afterward  raised  eight  feet,  bring- 
ing it  up  to  the  grade,  and  making  cellars 
and  basements  underneath.  It  was  the  first 
brick  building  ever  raised  in  Chicago,  and  the 
raising  was  done  at  a  cost  to  the  proprietors, 
Ira  and  James  Couch,  of  some  $45,000.  The 
contractor,  I  think,  came  from  Boston,  and 
many  were  the  prophecies  that  the  building 
would  fall  down  during  the  process;  but  it 
was  raised  without  the  breaking  of  a  pane  of 
glass,  although  it  was  160  by  180  feet.  After 
the  success  attending  the  raising  of  the  Tremont 
many  others  were  raised  to  grade,  and  at  last 

43 


I!icminisccncc0  of  Cljicago 

one-half  of  a  block  of  heavy  buildings  on  Lake 
Street  were  successfully  raised.  It  took  5,000 
screws  and  500  men  to  accomplish  it. 

The  North  Side  between  the  river  and  North 
State  Street  was  very  wet, — the  water  lay  six 
to  nine  inches  deep  the  year  round,  —  and  on 
the  West  Side  for  ten  miles  out  the  water  lay 
in  places  two  feet  deep,  and  in  wet  weather 
the  whole  surface  was  covered  with  water,  with 
the  exception  of  the  two  ridges  between  the 
city  and  the  Des  Plaines  River.  I  built,  in  the 
fall  of  '36,  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  streets,  and  manv  a  time  had  to  wade 
ankle-deep  in  water  to  get  there  before  I  cut  a 
ditch  to  the  river  to  drain  it. 

On  taking  a  trip  to  the  Northwest  in  the  spring 
of  '35,  the  water  was  so  deep  a  little  north  of 
Fullerton  Avenue,  on  the  Milwaukee  road,  that 
it  came  into  the  wagon-box  several  times  before 
we  reached  the  ridge  at  Jefferson.  In  going 
out  to  a  convention,  June  i,  1849,  there  was 
so  much  water  on  the  prairie  west  of  tlie  city 
that  it  took  us  nearly  the  whole  dav  to  reach 
Doty's  Hotel,  on  the  ridge  about  ten  miles 
west  of  the  coiulhouse.  We  were,  of  course, 
traveling  in  wagons,  as  that  was  long  before 
the  era  of  raih'oads.  But  I  have  said  enough 
to  show  the  character  of  the  soil  of  Chicago 
and  surrounding  countr\-.  It  certainly  was 
decidedly  a  verv  low  and  wet  sjiot  on  which 
to  build  acitv  before  it  was  di-ained  and  sewered, 
and  the  only  wonder  is  that  it  has  become  the 

44 


Cljarlc^  Clcaber 


magnificent  city  that  we  boast  of  at  the  present 
day,  with  blocks  of  buildings  far  surpassing 
in  elegance  of  structure,  durability,  and  size 
any  that  can  be  found  in  the  business  parts  of 
either  London  or  Paris. 


In  1836  I  drove  up  to  Milwaukee,  when  the 
most  of  the  village  was  on  the  west  side,  at 
Kilbourne  Town,  although  they  had  made  a 
beginning  to  build  up  the  Cream  City  even  at 
that  early  day.  The  Milwaukee  House,  a  large 
frame  hotel,  was  just  opened,  being  built  on 
one  of  the  highest  hills  in  the  city.  It  has 
since  been  lowered  about  fifty  feet,  to  bring  it 
on  a  level  with  the  rest  of  the  town.  From 
my  first  visit  for  twenty  years  I  went  there 
continually,  marked  its  growth,  and  m.any  a 
time  listened  to  the  boasts  of  its  citizens  that 
it  was  going  to  rival  Chicago  in  its  growth,  and 
did  actually  contain  as  many  inhabitants  as  the 
Garden  City.  The  runners  from  the  hotel 
would  go  on  board  the  Eastern  boats  and  tell 
passengers  such  tales  of  the  dreadful  sickness 
and  daily  deaths  in  Chicago  that  many  a  one 
was  frightened  and  deterred  from  coming  here. 

I  was  with  Captain  Ward  on  the  first  steamer 
that  ever  entered  the  river,  which  was  then 
filled  with  numerous  mud  banks,  on  which  we 
grounded  several  times  before  getting  up  to 
where  the  wharves  now  are.  The  citizens  were 
about  crazy  with  delight  at  seeing  the  boat 
45 


lliniiiniacnifCiSf  of  €f)icago 

enter,  and  got  up  quite  an  impromptu  glorifi- 
cation. Waul<egan  was  not  then  settled. 
Kenosha,  or  Southport,  as  it  was  called,  was 
just  laid  out,  and  Root  River,  on  which  is 
located  Racine,  was  crossed  about  three  miles 
from  its  mouth.  In  1842  or  1 843  I  first  visited 
Galena,  then  quite  a  city  of  note,  doing  a  larger 
wholesale  business  than  Chicago.  It  was  the 
center  of  the  mining  district  for  lead,  and  was 
the  point  at  which  all  the  shipments  were  made 
for  the  South  and  East,  being  the  distributing 
point  for  the  upper  Mississippi  and  Northwest. 
From  there  Chicago  received  its  first  ship- 
ment of  clarified  sugar,  bought  from  the  agent 
of  the  St.  Louis  refinery,  who  was  stationed 
there.  It  was  only  sixty  barrels,  but  was  the 
forerunner  of  an  immense  trade  afterward  done 
with  St.  Louis,  through  an  agent  appointed 
lie  re. 

In  the  fall  of  1842  I  made  two  trips  to 
St.  Louis  for  the  purchase  of  sugar  and  molas- 
ses, being  the  first  ever  brought  into  the  city 
direct  from  the  South.  The  route  was  from 
here  to  Peru  by  stage,  and  from  there  by  boat. 
The  water  was  very  low — so  much  so  that  there 
were  only  two  small  boats  running,  out  of  about 
twenty  in  the  trade.  The  rest  were  stuck  on 
the  different  sandbars,  some  ten  or  twelve 
being  at  Beardstown.  The  small  boat  on  which 
I  took  passage  only  drew  about  two  feet  of 
water.  Consecjuently  she  continued  her  trips, 
but  was  a  whole  week  reaching  St.  Louis. 
46 


€l^atk^  €ka\itt 


The  deck  hands  on  board  were  all  slaves,  and 
the  way  the  poor  fellows  were  treated  was 
really  shameful.  After  meals  in  the  cabin 
everything  was  swept  off  the  plates  into  tin 
pans  and  then  taken  below,  when  the  darkies 
would  scramble  for  the  contents  like  so  many 
hogs. 

At  Beardstown  the  boat  grounded,  and  the 
darkies  were  driven  into  the  water  to  float  a 
hundred  barrels  of  whisky  over  the  bar.  When 
thus  lightened,  they  pried  her  over;  and  yet, 
with  this  wretched  treatment,  they  were  the 
joUiest,  merriest  set  of  fellows  ever  seen,  sing- 
ing and  playing  when  they  were  not  at  work, 
as  if  they  had  not  a  trouble  or  care  in  the 
world.  Just  opposite  Alton,  at  the  entrance 
to  the  Mississippi,  she  struck  a  snag  and  nearly 
sank,  but,  after  running  ashore,  they  stuck 
their  jackcoats  into  the  hole  and  continued 
their  journey  as  if  nothing  had  happened, 
reaching  the  city  a  few  hours  afterward  with- 
out further  mishap.  A  second  trip  I  made 
soon  after  took  over  two  weeks  on  the  river. 

There  is  one  other  episode  in  my  early  travels 
which  I  must  relate,  particularly  as  it  was 
made  with  others,  and  was,  I  think,  the  first 
political  convention  ever  attended  by  Chica- 
goans.  It  was  in  the  presidential  canvass  of 
1840 — the  year  Harrison  was  elected.  Some 
seventy  of  us  were  nominated  to  attend  a 
convention  to  be  held  at  Springfield,  and,  as 
we  wished  to  make  a  sensation,  we  determined 

47 


^Hcniinij^ccncc^  of  Ctjicago 

to  get  the  thing  up  in  style.  Great  prepa- 
rations were  made.  We  secured  fourteen  of 
the  best  teams  in  town,  got  new  canvas  covers 
made  for  the  wagons,  and  bought  four  tents. 
We  also  borrowed  the  government  yaw! — the 
largest  in  the  city — had  it  rigged  up  as  a  two- 
masted  ship,  set  it  on  the  strongest  wagon  we 
could  find,  and  had  it  drawn  by  six  splendid 
gray  horses.  Thus  equipped,  with  four  sailors 
on  board,  a  good  band,  and  a  six-pound  can- 
non to  fire  occasional  salutes,  made  quite  an 
addition  to  our  cavalcade  of  fourteen  wagons, 
we  went  off  with  flying  colors,  amid  the  cheers 
and  well-wishes  of  the  numerous  friends  that 
accompanied  us  a  few  miles  out.  Major-Gen- 
eral,  then  Captain,  Hunter,  was  our  marshal, 
and  the  whole  delegation  was  chosen  from  the 
best  class  of  citizens,  of  whom  but  few,  very 
few,  remain:  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard,  Stephen 
F.  Gale,  Thomas  B.  Carter,  Robert  Freeman, 
and,  Mr.  Carter  informs  me,  two  of  the  musi- 
cians are  still  living,  being  all  we  could  call  to 
mind.  It  was  June  7,  I  think,  that  we  staited, 
leaving  the  city  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock. 
From  the  Three-Mile  House  to  the  ridge,  ten 
miles  from  town,  took  us  about  the  whole  day 
to  accomplish.  It  was  past  live  o'clock  before 
we  got  our  tents  pitched. 

The  prairie  was  covered  with  water,  and  tlie 

wagons  would    often  sink  up   to   the  axles  in 

mud,  making  it  a  most   tedious  and   fatiguing 

journey.      But    on    reaching    the    tavern,    and 

48 


€i^atW  €ka\itt 


finding  an  old  coon  there,  with  a  barrel  of  hard 
cider,  on  the  stoop  —  emblems  of  the  Whig 
party  —  we  soon  made  ourselves  jovial  around 
the  camp-fire,  over  which  some  of  our  party 
were  busy  cooking  supper,  as  it  was  under- 
stood, before  starting,  that  none  of  the  party 
were  to  go  to  taverns,  but  all  fare  alike,  sleeping 
under  the  tents.  We  were,  of  course,  well 
supplied  with  buffalo-robes  and  blankets. 
These,  with  a  little  hay  under  them,  made 
comfortable  beds.  We  set  a  watch  in  true 
military  style,  though  it  was  hardly  thought 
necessary  so  near  to  the  city. 

We  were  astir  by  sunrise  the  next  morning, 
and,  after  partaking  of  breakfast,  started  again 
on  our  journey,  reaching  Joliet,  where  we  again 
encamped  for  the  night.  During  the  evening 
we  were  visited  by  a  few  of  the  citizens,  who 
advised  us  to  put  on  a  strong  guard  during  the 
night,  as  a  party  of  Irishmen  at  work  on  the 
canal  had  determined  to  burn  our  vessel.  On 
receiving  this  information  we  took  measures  at 
once  for  its  protection.  The  wagons  were 
placed  in  a  circle,  the  vessel  in  the  center,  and 
the  horses  corraled  in  the  enclosure.  Then  we 
doubled  the  guard,  which  was  relieved  every 
two  hours,  and,  thus  prepared  for  any  emer- 
gency, sought  our  tents.  About  twelve  or  one 
o'clock  the  guard  arrested  two  men  found 
sneaking  under  the  wagons,  and  held  them  until 
morning.  With  that  exception  we  passed  a 
quiet  night,  but  in  the  morning  received  decisive 

49 


itcmini^cfiicc^  of  Ct)icago 

information    that    we    should    be    attacked    in 
fording  the  river. 

When  all  preparations  were  made  for  a  start, 
our  marshal  rode  along  the  line,  telling  those 
who  had  not  already  done  so  to  load  their  arms, 
consisting  of  shot-guns  and  old  horse-pistols 
(revolvers  being  then  unknown),  but  to  be 
sure  and  not  fire  until  he  gave  the  word  of 
command.  Fortunately  we  escaped  without 
bloodshed,  but  it  looked  very  serious  for  about 
half  an  hour.  When  we  reached  the  ford  we 
found  a  party  of  two  hundred  or  three  hundred 
men  and  boys  assembled  to  dispute  our 
passage.  However,  we  continued  our  course, 
surrounded  by  a  howling  mob,  and  part  of  the 
time  amid  showers  of  stones  thrown  from  the 
adjoining  bluff,  until  we  came  to  a  spot  where 
two  stores  were  built  —  one  on  either  side  of 
the  street  —  and  there  we  came  to  a  halt,  as 
they  had  tied  a  rope  from  one  building  to  the 
other,  witli  a  red  petticoat  dangling  in  the 
midst,  used  by  the  Democrats  to  show  dis- 
respect to  General  Harrison,  whom  they  called 
the  "  Old- Woman  Candidate."  Seeing  us 
brought  to  a  stand,  the  mob  redoubled  their 
shouts  and  noise  from  their  tin  horns,  kettles, 
etc.  General  Hunter,  riding  to  the  front,  took 
in  the  situation  at  a  glance.  It  was  either 
forward  or  fight.  He  chose  the  former,  and 
gave  the  word  of  command,  knowing  it  would 
be  at  the  loss  of  our  masts  in  the  vessel.  And 
sure  enough,  down  came  the  fore-and-aft 
50 


€\\atW  Clcabet 


topmast  with  a  crash,  inciting  the  crowd  to 
increased  violence,  noise,  and  tumult.  One 
of  the  party  got  so  excited  that  he  snatched  a 
tin  horn  from  a  boy  and  struck  the  marshal's 
horse.  When  he  reached  for  his  pistols,  the 
fellow  made  a  hasty  retreat  into  his  store. 
After  proceeding  a  short  distance,  we  came  to 
the  open  prairie,  and  a  halt  was  ordered  for 
repairs.  It  took  less  than  half  an  hour  for  our 
sailors  to  go  aloft,  splice  the  masts,  and  make 
all  taut  again.  Then  it  became  our  turn  to 
hurrah,  which  we  did  with  a  will,  and  were 
molested  no  further.  But  the  delegation  that 
were  to  join  us  from  the  village,  being  deterred 
from  fear,  were  set  upon  by  the  mob  and  pelted 
out  of  town  with  rotten  eggs.  This  was 
Democracy  in  '40  —  we  were  Whigs.  From 
that  time  forward  we  had  no  further  trouble 
from  our  opponents.  In  fact,  the  farmers 
along  our  route  treated  us  with  the  greatest 
hospitality  and  kindness.  One  in  particular,  I 
remember,  met  us  with  a  number  of  hams, 
bread,  etc.,  in  his  wagon,  and  when  we  arrived 
at  his  home  said,  "Now,  boys,  just  help  your- 
selves to  anything  you  want;  there  is  plenty  of 
corn  in  the  crib,  potatoes  in  the  cellar,  and  two 
or  three  fat  sheep  in  the  flock,"  which  he  had 
killed  for  us.  In  the  morning  he  escorted  us 
on  our  journey  some  miles,  with  twenty  or 
thirty  of  his  neighbors.  In  fact,  with  the 
exception  before  mentioned,  we  met  with 
nothing  but  kindness  the  whole  of  our  trip. 
51 


Untimisfcciicf^  of  Cljicago 

It  took  us  about  seven  clays  to  reach  Spring- 
field, where  we  met  some  20,000  fellow-citizens 
from  the  central  and  southern  portions  of  the 
state.  There  was  one  part  of  the  procession 
that  I  shall  never  forget.  It  was  a  log-house, 
some  twelve  by  sixteen  feet,  built  on  an 
immense  truck,  the  wheels  made  of  solid  wood 
cut  from  a  large  tree.  This  was  drawn  by 
thirty  yoke  of  oxen.  A  couple  of  coons  were 
playing  in  the  branches  of  a  hickory  tree  at 
one  corner  of  the  house,  and  a  barrel  of  hard 
cider  stood  by  the  door,  with  the  latch-string 
hanging  out.  These  were  all  emblems  of  the 
party  in  that  year's  canvass. 

With  the  above  exception,  Chicago  took  the 
lead  in  everything.  What  with  the  vessel  — 
a  wonder  of  wonders  to  the  Southerners,  who 
had  never  seen,  or  perhaps  heard  of,  a  sailing- 
vessel  before  —  the  natty  tents  fixed  up  with 
buffalo-skin  seats,  interspersed  with  blue  and  red 
blankets,  and  festooned  with  the  national  flag 
and  bunting,  made  such  a  display  that  the  young 
ladies  of  the  city  paid  us  a  deal  of  attention, 
making  numerous  visits,  and  during  the  early 
part  of  the  evening  complimented  us  with  a 
serenade,  which  we  returned  later.  One  person, 
a  Mr.  Baker,  threw  open  his  house  after  mid- 
night, and  entertained  us  in  gocKl  style  witli  cake 
and  wine.  We  stayed  two  or  three  days, 
making  many  friends,  and  enjoyed  ourselves 
greatly.  But  there  was  six  or  seven  days'  travel 
to  reach  home  again,  which  was  not  so  pleasant. 
52 


€^at\c^  Clcaber 


We  were  delayed  by  two  public  dinners  on 
our  route  back — one  given  at  Bloomington  by 
a  right  jolly  lady,  who  made  a  capital  speech. 
We  returned  by  way  of  Fox  River,  avoiding 
Joliet,  traveling  through  Oswego,  Aurora,  and 
Naperville,  and,  though  enjoying  our  three 
weeks'  trip  very  much,  we  were  glad  to  meet 
a  large  number  of  citizens  to  escort  us  again  to 
our  homes  in  Chicago.  Such  was  a  convention 
in  old  times.  What  a  change  forty  years  has 
brought  about!  By  rail,  the  journey  would 
take  one  night,  a  day  or  two  spent  in  Spring- 
field, and  by  night  home  again  in  luxurious 
sleeping-cars. 

I  have  previously  written  several  articles 
describing  the  difficulties  the  first  settlers  had  in 
reaching  Chicago,  as  well  as  their  experiences 
in  the  first  few  years  of  residence  here.  I  will 
now  give  you  some  idea  of  the  trouble  and 
difficulties  they  found  in  providing  timber  and 
material  with  which  to  build  even  the  small 
houses  and  stores  that  were  put  up  in  those 
early  days.  There  were  no  well-filled  lumber- 
yards, with  an  office  adjoining,  into  which  you 
could  enter,  as  now,  and  leave  your  order  for 
all  the  different  kinds  wanted.  The  whole 
stock  of  pine  lumber  in  the  village  when  I 
came  here  amounted  to  5,000  or  6,000  feet  of 
boards,  and  that  was  held  at  $60  a  thousand. 
Previous  to  1 83 3  most  of  the  houses  had  been 
built  of  logs,  some  round,  just  as  they  came 

53 


JUmiini^cntcci^  of  Cljicago 

from  the  woods;  while  the  more  pretentious, 
belonging  to  the  officers  of  the  army  and  the 
great  men  of  the  village,  were  built  of  hewn 
logs.  There  was  a  small  sawmill  run  by  water 
about  five  or  six  miles  up  the  North  Branch, 
where  they  had  built  a  dam  across  the  stream, 
getting  a  three  or  four  foot  head  of  water; 
there  was  also  a  small  steam  sawmill,  run  by 
Captain  Bemsley  Huntoon,  situated  a  little  south 
of  Division  Street,  at  the  mouth  of  a  slough 
that  emptied  itself  into  the  river  at  that  point, 
in  both  of  which  they  sawed  out  such  timber 
as'  grew  in  the  woods  adjoining,  consisting  of 
oak,  elm,  poplar,  white  ash,  etc.  Of  such 
lumber  most  of  the  houses  were  built,  and  any 
carpenter  that  has  ever  been  compelled  to  use  it, 
particularly  in  its  green  state,  will  appreciate 
its  quality.  In  drying  it  will  shrink,  warp,  and 
twist  in  every  way,  drawing  out  the  nails,  and, 
after  a  summer  has  passed,  the  siding  will  gape 
open,  letting  the  wind  through  every  joint. 
Such  w'as  the  stuff  used  for  building  in  1833 
and  1834.  Some  even  did  worse  than  that, 
and  went  into  the  woods  for  their  scantling, 
cutting  down  small  trees  and  squaring  one  side 
of  them  with  the  broadax.  One  of  the  largest 
houses  built  that  winter,  by  Daniel  Elston,  was 
built  with  that  very  kincl,  both  for  uprights 
and  rafters. 

During  the  summer  of  1834  the  supply  of 
pine  lumber  was  greatly  increased,  and  the 
price  much  lower.      I  think  the  most  of  it  came 

54 


€1^tlt0  Cicabcr 


from  Canada,  but  even  as  late  as  1837  timber 
was  so  scarce  (and  heavy  timber  was  used  in 
large  buildings  in  those  times,  the  frame  being 
pinned  together  by  mortise  and  tennon)  that, 
wanting  considerable  of  it  to  put  up  a  factory, 
I  found  it  cheaper  to  purchase  ten  acres  of 
land,  ten  or  twelve  miles  up  the  North  Branch, 
from  which  I  cut  the  necessary  logs,  hauled 
them  into  the  city  on  sleighs,  and  had  them 
squared  on  the  ground  with  the  broadax.  But 
heavy  timber  for  frame  buildings  soon  after 
that  came  into  disuse,  as  it  was  found  the 
present  way  of  putting  up  frame  buildings  was 
much  stronger  and  better.  It  used  then  to  be 
called  balloon  framing.  G.  W.  Snow,  an  old 
settler,  had  the  credit  of  first  originating  the 
idea. 

Lumber  in  1837  had  got  to  be  more  plentiful 
at  $18  to  $20  a  thousand.  I  put  up  a  building, 
30  by  40  feet,  two-story  and  basement,  on  the 
corner  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  streets. 
It  was  the  largest  building  on  the  West  Side 
south  of  Lake  Street,  and,  standing  there  alone 
for  years,  served  as  a  beacon  for  many  a 
belated  traveler  over  the  ten  miles  of  prairie 
between  the  village  and  the  Des  Plaines  River. 
At  that  time  it  seemed  a  long  way  out  of 
town.  There  was  but  one  shanty  between  it 
and  Lake  Street  Bridge,  and  it  really  seemed 
quite  a  walk  over  the  prairie  to  reach  it. 

The  West  Side  at  that  time  contained  but 
few  inhabitants.     When  a  year  or  two  later 

55 


^!!mlim^ccncc^  of  €f)icago 

the  village  took  upon  itself  city  airs,  the  Third 
Ward,  extending  from  the  center  of  Lake 
Street  south,  and  all  west  of  the  river,  contained 
but  sixty  voters,  the  majority  of  w^hom  were 
Whigs.  It  was  a  Whig  ward,  but  that  did  not 
prevent  the  Democrats  of  that  early  day  from 
colonizing  about  fifteen  Irishmen  from  the 
North  Side  to  try  and  carry  it.  I  merely 
mention  this  fact  as  showing  that  the  Democrat 
of  1839  was  very  much  like  his  brother  Dem- 
ocrat of  1880.  1  might  tell  a  good  joke  of  two 
prominent  politicians  of  that  time  —  how  they 
cursed  and  swore  at  us  when  they  found  we 
positively  refused  to  receive  their  Irish  votes, 
after  they  had  furnished  them  for  ten  days 
with  whisky  and  board;  but  as  they  are  still 
living  in  the  city,  I  will  not  mention  names. 

From  1838  to  1843  people  began  gradually 
to  build  a  house  here  and  there  on  the  streets 
adjoining,  between  the  location  I  had  selected 
and  the  river;  but  the  progress  made  was  very 
slow.  We  were  right  in  the  midst  of  the  panic 
which  commenced  in  1 83 7.  I  changed  my 
location  in  1843,  and  built  on  Canal  Street, 
just  south  of  Madison,  and  still  had  an  unob- 
structed view  of  the  bridge  at  Lake  Street,  and 
walked  to  it  over  the  greensward  of  the  prairie. 
At  this  point  it  was  foolishly  supposed  by  many 
to  be  a  good  location  for  a  residence,  as  it 
was  a  dry,  good  soil  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
which  was  then  a  clear,  running  stream,  and 
really  looked  pleasant.  I  built  a  brick  house, 
56 


€l\atW  Clearer 


surrounded  it  with  a  garden,  and  had  fine, 
growing  fruit-trees;  so,  also,  did  two  or  three 
others,  among  whom  were  Charles  Taylor  and 
George  Davis,  whose  widows  are  still  living  on 
the  West  Side;  but  before  we  reaped  the  fruits 
of  it,  business  drew  near  us.  Gates  &  Co. 
started  a  foundry  within  a  block  of  us,  and  in 
1848  a  lumber-yard  was  established  on  the 
adjoining  lot.  That  settled  our  idea  as  to 
residence  property,  and  in  1852  I  moved  to 
the  corner  of  Thirteenth  Street  and  Michigan 
Avenue.  Here  I  rented  a  house  and  garden 
that  was  nearly  surrounded  with  prairie.  But 
business  again  followed  us,  and  six  months 
after  we  settled  there  the  Michigan  Central 
Railroad  put  up  a  temporary  depot  directly 
opposite  on  the  east  side  of  the  street.  To 
be  sure  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  iron- 
horse  make  its  daily  trips  to  the  city  of  our 
choice,  but  that  hardly  compensated  us  for  the 
annoyance  we  continually  received  from  the 
tramps  and  others  that  came  on  the  cars 
begging  for  food  and  water;  so  we  determined 
once  more  to  pull  up  stakes,  and  selected  a 
place  on  the  lake  shore  two  miles  south  of  the 
city,  in  the  grove,  where  Fortieth  Street  now 
is.  But  before  speaking  of  that  I  will  give  you 
some  idea  of  the  expansion  of  the  city  in  a 
southerly  direction  of  what  is  called  the  South 
Side. 

I  think  it  was  in  1836  or  1837  that  the  old 
Tremont  was  put  up  on  the  northwest  corner 

57 


lUcmini^cniccjef  of  Ctjicaffo 

of  Lake  and  Dearborn  streets,  owned  and  kept 
by  Ira  and  James  Couch,  though  in  a  very 
different  style  to  what  it  has  been  kept  the 
last  twenty-five  years.  It  was  then  a  common 
country  tavern,  for  the  accommodation  of 
farmers  and  others  visiting  the  city.  I  have 
many  a  time  met  one  of  the  proprietors  on  the 
prairie  bringing  a  load  of  wood  from  the  Dutch- 
man's Point,  twelve  miles  up  the  North  Branch, 
and  once  or  twice,  when  business  was  slack, 
met  him  on  the  road  to  Milwaukee,  with  a 
sleigh-load  of  butter,  dried  apples,  etc.,  to 
trade  off  to  the  denizens  of  the  Cream  City 
and  turn  an  honest  dollar.  In  1838  the  city 
had  got  as  far  south  as  Madison  Street.  Two 
of  my  friends  built  on  the  south  side  of 
Madison,  directly  facing  Dearborn  Street. 
This  was  the  very  outskirts  of  the  city  and 
seemed  a  long  way  from  the  center  of  business — 
Clark  and  South  Water  streets.  But  it  kept 
creeping  southward,  until  in  1 850  it  had  reached 
Twelfth  Street,  where,  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  that  and  State  Street,  stood  the 
Southern  Hotel.  In  1849  I  was  offered  the 
ten  acres  adjoining,  running  from  Twelfth  to 
Fourteenth  Street  and  west  of  State,  for  $1,200. 
Mathew  Latlin  tells  me  he  purchased  it  for 
$1,000.  It  is  part  of  the  property  that  has 
lately  been  sold  to  the  railroad  for  a  depot  at 
$200  to  $300  a  foot. 

In  185  I  I  was  offered,  by  the  Marine  Bank, 
twenty  acres,  running  from  State  Street  to  the 
58 


€1^atW  Clcaber 


lake,  for  $500  an  acre.  A  year  or  two  later 
I  was  one  of  a  committee  to  locate  Dearborn 
Seminary.  I  urged  them  to  locate  between 
Wabash  and  Michigan  avenues,  just  south  of 
Fifteenth  Street,  which  was  offered  us  for  $25 
a  foot,  both  fronts;  but  it  was  rejected  with 
scorn,  inquiring  of  me  where  I  expected  to  get 
the  young  ladies  to  fill  the  school  in  that 
neighborhood.  At  this  time  there  was  only 
a  single  buggy  track  running  in  a  direct  line 
across  the  prairie  from  the  corner  of  State  and 
Tw^elfth  streets  to  the  "oak  woods,"  as  the 
groves  south  of  Thirty-first  Street  were  then 
called.  In  driving  to  that  point  we  only 
passed  two  houses — Mr.  Clark's  on  Michigan 
Avenue  and  Sixteenth  Street,  who  owned  a 
farm  there,  and  Myrick's  Tavern  at  Twenty- 
ninth  Street,  who  owned  sixty  or  seventy 
acres  from  Twenty-seventh  or  Twenty-eighth 
to  Thirty-first  Street.  Then  we  came  to  the 
Graves'  tract  of  sixty  or  seventy  acres,  situated 
near  the  lake  in  the  beautiful  grove  between 
Thirty-first  and  Thirty-third  streets,  on  which 
was  a  house  of  resort  called  "The  Cottage." 
The  adjoining  property  of  the  same  description, 
south  of  Thirty-third  and  north  of  Thirty-fifth 
streets,  was,  in  1852,  purchased  by  Senator 
Douglas,  who  donated  ten  acres  of  it  to  the 
Chicago  University.  This  tract  of  seventy 
acres  was  owned  before  Douglas  bought  it  by 
some  bank  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  offered 
for  $7,000.  I  urged  its  purchase  by  the  city 
59 


Jflniimi^cnicc^  of  €I)icago 

for  a  park  through  the  papers  of  that  day,  but 
had  my  comnuinications  returned  to  me,  with 
the  remark  that  it  certainly  would  benefit 
Cleaverville,  but  they  did  not  think  it  would 
benefit  the  citizens  of  Chicago,  being  so 
far  out.  From  Thirty-fifth  to  Thirty-ninth 
Street  was  the  Ellis  farm  of  200  acres,  owned 
by  Samuel  Ellis,  who  lived  in  a  clapboard 
house  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Thirty-fifth 
Street  and  Lake  Avenue,  where  they  had  kept 
tavern  for  years,  it  being  formerly  the  first 
station  out  of  Chicago  for  the  Detroit  line  of 
stages.  It  was  about  half  a  mile  from  "The 
Cottage"  and  three-quarters  from  Myrick's. 
These  were  then  the  only  houses  south  of 
Thirteenth  Street,  except  one  or  two  small 
places  on  the  river;  but  it  was  upon  the  Ellis 
farm  that  I  determined  to  build  a  factory,  and 
for  that  purpose  purchased  twenty  acres  of 
him,  on  the  lake  shore,  from  the  center  of 
Lake  Avenue  to  the  lake,  between  Thirtv- 
seventh  and  Thirty-ninth  streets.  It  was 
thought  to  be  a  wild  scheme,  and  many  a  time 
I  was  laughed  at,  and  asked  with  a  smile  if  I 
ever  expected  Chicago  to  reach  as  far  south 
as  that,  being  then  two  miles  beyond  the  city 
limits,  which  were  at  Twenty-second  Street. 
However,  that  did  not  deter  me,  even  when  I 
got  out  plans  for  a  three-story  building  and 
cellar,  80  by  160  feet,  and  was  informed  that 
it  would  take  100  cords  of  stone  and  400,000 
brick  to  complete  it.  But  it  did  become  a 
60 


Cljark^  Clearer 


matter  of  grave  importance  how  I  was  to  get 
the  brick,  stone,  kmiber,  etc.,  on  the  ground, 
as  the  brick-kilns  were  on  the  West  Side, 
near  Twentieth  Street,  and  there  was  no 
bridge  south  of  Madison  Street.  But  being 
accustomed  to  face  difficukies,  and,  after 
looking  the  matter  over,  concluded  the  cheapest 
way  v/as  to  build  a  scow  and  run  a  ferry  over 
the  river  about  Twenty-second  Street,  which  I 
did  for  three  or  four  months.  But  the  trouble 
was  not  then  over.  Before  the  teamsters  had 
been  hauling  thirty  days  the  road  track  in  some 
places  got  so  deep  in  sand  that  they  informed 
me  that  they  should  have  to  throw  up  the  con- 
tract (which  I  think  was  only  $i  a  thousand) 
unless  I  would  build  some  half  mile  of  plank 
road,  which  I  accordingly  had  to  do,  and  also 
build  a  bridge  in  front  of  the  university  over  a 
slough  150  feet  in  length.  The  stone  I  had  but 
little  difficulty  with,  as  I  contracted  to  have  that 
taken  down  by  tug  on  canal-boats.  But  for 
the  heavy  oak  timbers  and  joists  which  were 
needed  I  built  another  smaller  scow  and  towed 
it  down  the  lake  shore  with  horses.  This  was 
before  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  had  put 
any  piling  or  crib-work  in  the  lake,  when  the 
shore  was  a  beautiful  sandy  beach,  extending 
many  feet  from  the  high  land  to  the  water.  I 
had,  previously  to  this,  put  up  several  houses 
on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  on  the  North 
Branch,  near  Division  Street,  for  the  use  of  my 
workmen,  and  wanted  those  moved  to  the  lake 
61 


iftniiiniBcnicf^  of  €t)icago 

shore  at  Thirty-eighth  Street.  The  problem  to 
be  solved  was  how  to  get  them  there.  Many 
ditiiculties  were  in  the  way  of  taking  them  by 
water;  yet  that  seemed  the  only  feasible  plan. 
One  great  objection  was  that  Chicago  Avenue 
Bridge  had  no  draw  in  it  to  let  a  boat  pass; 
but,  after  taking  advice  upon  the  subject,  I 
notified  the  citv  authorities  they  must  remove 
it,  as  they  had  no  right  or  authority  to  obstruct 
a  navigable  stream.  They  removed  it  after  a 
day  or  two's  delay.  But  that  delay  cost  me 
the  loss  of  one  of  the  boats  employed  in  moving 
the  houses.  I  hired  two  canal-boats,  lashed 
them  abreast  of  each  other,  and  chained  two 
houses  crossvvays  on  them.  In  this  way  we 
found  no  difficulty  in  going  to  the  mouth  of 
the  river.  But  a  storm  had  come  up  on  the 
lake,  which  compelled  us  to  wait  three  days 
until  it  subsided.  A  man  who  had  been  left 
on  board  as  watchman,  getting  tired  of  such  a 
solitary  life,  of  his  own  accord  hailed  a  passing 
tug,  and  by  himself  braved  the  rolling  waves 
of  Lake  Michigan;  and,  though  the  storm  had 
in  a  great  measure  abated,  yet  there  was  a 
heavy  swell  washing  shoreward,  and  the  conse- 
quence was,  the  minute  the  tug  cast  them  off 
a  couple  of  hundred  feet  from  land  thev  began 
to  drift  in  broadside  to  the  shore,  and  were 
soon  driven  up  on  the  beach,  the  outer  boat 
sinking,  leaving  the  houses,  to  all  appearances, 
pitching  into  the  lake.  But,  fortunately,  the 
chains  held  them,  and,  without  further  damage, 
62 


€fjarit£f  Clcaber 


they  were  landed  on  the  shore.  But  we  were 
not  so  fortunate  with  the  boat,  which  was 
wrecked  the  following  day  before  we  could  get 
a  tug  to  lay  hold  of  it.  Two  other  trips  were 
made,  and  four  more  houses  safely  landed 
without  further  loss. 

Those  houses  are  still  standing,  just  north  of 
Pier  or  Thirty-eighth  Street,  on  Lake  Avenue, 
and  are  the  same  that  were  floated  down  in 
185 1,  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  and,  with  the 
brick  building  and  slaughter-house  erected  the 
same  year,  were  the  commencement  of  the 
large  settlement  in  that  neighborhood.  The 
following  year  I  built  several  more  cottages, 
and  soon  found  it  almost  a  necessity  to  build  a 
meeting-house,  which  I  did  in  1 854,  in  which 
school  was  kept  and  the  Gospel  was  preached 
for  many  years.  This  building  was  afterward 
removed  to  Hyde  Park,  and  I  think  is  now 
used  as  the  Village-Hall.  In  1857  one  hun- 
dred acres  were  platted  and  laid  out  as  the 
Village  of  Cleaverville  —  so  named  by  the 
reporter  for  one  of  the  papers  of  that  day — 
and  has  since  kept  its  cognomen,  legally,  at 
all  events,  although  from  the  station  on  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  being  called  Oakland, 
it  has  gradually  been  known  by  that  name, 
until  many  suppose  that  to  be  the  legal  appella- 
tion, and  want  their  title-papers  so  designated. 

It  was  but  a  year  after  I  erected  the  factory 
on  the  lake  shore  that  the  Michigan  Central 
came    thundering  along  with   their  rails   and 

63 


jlimnnt^cciicc^  of  Cljirago 

iron  horse,  within  lOO  feet  of  the  building,  thus 
rendering  it  ahnost  useless  for  the  purpose  for 
which  part  of  it  was  erected — viz.,  a  slaughter- 
house for  the  city  butchers  to  kill  in.  They 
began  killing  there,  but  the  cars  frightened  the 
cattle  so  they  dropped  off  one  after  the  other, 
although  Colonel  Hancock  made  his  debut  in 
it  as  a  Chicago  packer,  killing  a  few  hundred 
head  of  cattle  that  Winter.  But  others  as  well 
as  myself  soon  recognized  the  locality  as  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  around  Chicago  for  resi- 
dence purposes,  and  I  soon  had  an  offer  for  a 
lot  to  build  on,  by  Mr.  Farrington,  the  well- 
known  wholesale  grocer,  who  was  the  first, 
except  myself,  to  erect  a  building  on  the  village 
tract.  Others  soon  followed,  and,  on  the 
Illinois  Central  putting  on  a  train  to  run  three 
times  a  day,  citizens  began  to  be  attracted  by 
the  beauty  of  the  location,  and  the  first  week 
of  their  running  I  sold  five  or  six  lots.  In 
1853  I  built  a  house  for  myself,  where  I  have 
since  resided,  and  still  live  to  see  the  gradual 
but  wonderful  change  that  has  taken  place  in 
the  country  around;  from  a  farm,  fenced  in 
with  a  rail  fence,  to  a  ]X)pulous  neighborhood, 
filled  up  with  elegant  stone,  brick,  an(^  frame 
houses,  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  suburbs  of  the  city,  with  its 
large  brick  school-houses,  containing  hundreds 
of  children  each,  churches  of  all  denominations, 
and  improvements  of  every  kind. 

For   the    first    ten    or    twelve   years   of    my 
04 


Cfjarlc^  Clcaijcr 


residence  there  I  had  to  depend  on  myself 
for  everything  that  was  done  to  improve  the 
neighborhood.  There  were  no  Hyde  Park 
officials,  and  the  city  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  us,  so  far  as  making  streets  and  sewers 
were  concerned.  I  well  remember  the  making 
of  Thirty-ninth  Street.  It  was  such  a  swamp, 
west  of  Cottage  Grove  Avenue,  that  I  had  to 
employ  men  to  shovel  it  up,  as  a  team  could 
not  work  it.  In  fact,  all  the  swales  between 
the  ridges  were  covered  with  water  the  summer 
through,  breeding  mosquitoes  by  the  million, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
draw  backs  to  the  settlement  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. But  with  the  drainage  of  the  land  they 
soon  decreased,  and  on  running  a  sewer  from 
the  lake  in  1867,  west  on  the  street  mentioned 
to  Langley  Avenue,  thus  draining  all  the  lots 
contiguous  to  it,  they  disappeared  altogether. 
When  this  part  of  the  country  was  first 
settled  there  were  no  public  conveyances  of 
any  kind.  For  years  I  drove  in  and  out  of  the 
city  in  a  buggy.  Then  came  the  first  omnibus, 
running  to  Twelfth  Street  every  hour.  It  was, 
after  a  year  or  two,  extended  to  the  city  limits 
at  Twenty-Second  Street,  and  gradually  more 
'busses  were  put  on.  Then  some  public-spirited 
individual  put  on  a  four-horse  omnibus,  to  run 
to  Myrick's  Tavern,  on  Thirtieth  Street  That 
continued  until  about  1855  or  1856,  when,  I 
think,  the  horse-cars  began  to  run,  first  to 
Twelfth,  then  to  Twenty-second,  extending 
65 


^Hcttiim^ceiicc^  of  Cljicago 

soon  to  Thirty-first,  where  they  stopped  for 
several  years,  until  1867,  when  the  track  was 
laid  to  Thirty-ninth,  its  present  terminus. 
All  who  ride  on  them  now  know  what  success 
they  have  met  with,  as  they  are  continually 
filled  to  overflowing,  though  running  every 
three  or  four  minutes  for  sixteen  hours  out  of 
the  twenty-four.  Could  Doctor  Egan  and 
Senator  Douglas  arise  from  their  graves,  they 
would  indeed  look  on  with  astonishment.  I 
mention  them,  as  the  doctor  was  the  first  to 
get  a  charter  through  the  legislature  for  a 
horse-railroad  from  the  Calumet  River  to 
Chicago.  He,  the  senator,  and  myself  organ- 
ized a  company  to  build  the  road  some  time 
before  it  was  commenced,  but  were  defeated 
in  the  city  council  by  their  refusing  us  the 
right  to  lay  down  tracks  in  the  city.  Some 
two  or  three  years  after,  the  privilege  was 
granted  to  others. 

While  writing  of  public  improvements,  I 
will  mention  the  water-supply.  Citizens,  the 
first  year  or  two  of  my  residence  here,  went 
to  the  river-bank  and  dipped  it  up  by  the  pail- 
ful. Then  for  a  few  years  it  was  carted  from 
the  lake  shore,  in  water-carts,  and  sold  at  ten 
cents  a  barrel.  After  that,  if  I  remember 
right,  a  stream  was  piunped  from  the  shore 
into  a  tank  or  reservoir  adjoining  the  steam 
flouring-niill  built  on  the  northeast  corner  of 
Lake  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue,  run,  if  I 
remember  right,  by  the  late  James  H.  Wood- 
66 


€l^atW  Cleabcr 


worth.  The  two  tanks  were  certainly  not  over 
twelve  feet  deep,  and  stood  probably  four  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  ground,  and  from  this 
water  was  distributed  through  log  pipes  to  a 
small  portion  of  the  city.  This  continued 
until  about  1855-56,  when  J.  H.  Dunham 
called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  to  meet  over 
his  store  on  South  Water  Street,  to  take  into 
consideration  the  need  of  a  better  and  purer 
supply  of  water.  At  that  meeting  there  were 
only  five  individuals  present,  but  it  was  the 
first  of  a  series  that  at  last  accomplished  the 
object  sought,  and  was  the  commencement  of 
the  present  system  of  supply  throughout  the 
city.  For  many  years  it  was  pumped  from  the 
shore  at  the  present  site  of  the  waterworks,  but 
finding  at  length  that  they  pumped  about  as 
much  small  fish  as  they  did  water,  the  tunnel- 
ing of  the  lake  to  the  crib,  two  miles  from 
shore,  was  conceived  and  successfully  accom- 
plished. 

Seeing  in  your  valuable  paper  the  late  statis- 
tics published  by  you  of  the  business  done  in 
this  city,  for  the  past  year,  both  in  Packing 
and  in  Grain,  I  thought  it  would  be  interesting" 
to  those  connected  with  the  trade  to  know  from 
what  small  proportions  it  originally  sprang.  I 
will  commence  with  the  butchering  and  packing 
business,  and  to  do  that  must  go  back  to  the 
early  days  of  1833,  when  Archibald  Clybourn 
had  a  small  log  slaughter-house  on  the  east 

67 


iHniiini^cmce^  of  Cljicago 

side  of  the  North  Branch,  a  httle  south  of  the 
bridge  now  known  by  his  name.  He  then 
killed  weekly  a  few  head  of  cattle,  supplying 
the  garrison,  and  also  the  townspeople,  and 
was  one  of  the  first  who  afterward  put  up  both 
beef  and  pork  for  the  surrounding  country  and 
villages,  north  and  west  of  us.  He  did  quite 
an  extensive  trade  as  early  as  1836-37,  and 
was  reputed  to  be  a  wealthy  man  in  those  days, 
not  only  from  success  in  his  business,  but  also 
from  his  land  speculations. 

It  was  about  that  time,  or  probably  a  year 
or  two  later,  that  he  made  his  famous  trip  to 
Milwaukee  on  horseback.  He  rode  an  old 
favorite  gray  horse  of  his,  making  the  trip  in 
ten  or  twelve  hours,  to  secure  a  certain  eighty 
acres  of  land,  in  or  near  the  city,  by  which 
transaction  he  made  some  $20,000,  —  con- 
sidered a  large  amount  in  those  times, — and 
ever  after  gave  his  faithful  old  horse  free 
fodder  in  his  barns  and  pastures.  In  the 
winter  of  1842-43,  he  slaughtered  and  packed 
for  William  Felt  &  Co.  two  or  three  thousand 
head  of  cattle,  to  ship  to  New  York  City  — 
the  first  beef  ever  packed  in  this  city  for  an 
Eastern  market.  The  same  season  Gurdon 
S.  Hubbard  packed  some  cattle  for  the  East, 
and  perhaps  he  is  entitled  to  the  first  place  in 
Chicago  packing,  as  he  had  a  drove  of  about 
three  hundred  hogs  brought  in  and  sold  to  the 
villagers  as  early  as  1833,  and  from  that  time 
for  many  years  was  largely  identified  with  the 
68 


€f)arle^  Cicabn: 


packing  interests  of  the  city,  continuing  in  the 
business  as  late  as  1855  or  '56,  perhaps  later. 
Mark  Noble  also  killed  a  beast  now  and  then, 
and  sold  among  the  people  in  the  early  days  of 
1833-34,  keeping  it  up  for  two  or  three  years 
later — when  he  married  and  left  for  Texas, 
making  several  trips  to  the  city  years  after 
with  large  droves  of  cattle.  His  brother,  John 
Noble,  still  resides  on  the  north  side  of  the 
city. 

Sylvester  Marsh  also  started  a  butcher-shop 
on  Dearborn  Street,  between  Lake  and  South 
Water  streets,  as  early  as  1834,  carrying  it  on 
until  1836  or  1837,  when,  from  his  success  in 
the  business  and  land  speculations,  he  thought 
he  was  rich  enough  and  left  for  Dunkirk,  N.  Y., 
where  in  some  unaccountable  way  he  soon  lost 
all  he  had,  and  in  two  or  three  years  was  back 
in  Chicago,  in  partnership  with  George  W. 
Dole,  under  the  firm  name  of  Dole  &  Marsh. 
They  did  quite  an  extensive  business,  both  in 
killing  for  market  and  also  in  packing  for  them- 
selves and  others,  at  their  slaughter-house  on 
the  South  Branch. 

It  was  with  this  firm  that  Oramel  S.  and  R. 
M.  Hough  served  their  apprenticeship  to  the 
packing  business,  who,  for  many  years  after, 
were  extensively  known  among  those  connected 
with  the  packing  interests  of  Chicago  as  Hough 
&  Co.,  and  Hough,  Brown  &  Co.  Sherman 
(Orin)  &  Pitkin  (Nathaniel),  an  extensive  dry- 
goods  firm  of  1842-43,  also  went  heavily  into 
69 


iJleitiini^cencc^  of  Cljicago 

hog-packing  that  winter,  keeping  it  up  for 
several  seasons  thereafter;  they  went  into  it 
when  pork  was  at  the  lowest  price  ever  known  in 
Chicago.  I  bought  several  loads  of  dressed 
hogs  out  of  farmers'  wagons  that  winter  as  low 
as  $1.25  a  hundred.  Packing  in  those  early 
days  was  quite  an  experiment,  and  few  were 
found  willing  to  risk  their  money  in  it,  as  they 
had  to  carry  everything  packed  till  spring  and 
then  ship  East  by  vessel.  William  and  Norman 
Felt,  extensive  farmers  near  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
were  the  first  to  make  a  regular  business  of  it, 
as  they  continued  killing  at  different  packing- 
houses in  the  city  until  about  1 85 8  or  1859, 
and  after  that  for  years  were  the  most  extensive 
shippers  of  live  stock  from  this  place.  Moshier 
&  Clapp  (Wm.  B.)  also  packed  largely  of  pork 
for  the  Eastern  market  as  early  as  1 844  or  1 84 5  ; 
they  packed  for  a  time  in  a  store  of  Col.  Gurdon 
S.  Hubbard,  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  used  by 
him  for  that  purpose.  They  kept  in  the  busi- 
ness for  several  years,  until  the  death  of  Mr. 
Clapp,  about  1850. 

In  connection  with  the  slaughtering  business 
of  the  city,  I  must  not  forget  Absalom  Funk, 
later  Funk  &  Albee,  who  for  years  kept  the 
largest  and  best  meat-market  in  the  city.  Mr. 
Funk  had  also  several  large  farms  near  Bloom- 
ington,  111.,  where  he  raised  and  fattened  cattle 
for  his  own  killing,  making  semi-monthly  trips 
between  the  two  places  on  horseback,  following 
his  droves  of  cattle.  When  railroads  com- 
70 


Cfjarlc^  Clcabet 


menced  bringing  cattle  to  the  city,  rendering  his 
riding  unnecessary,  he  soon  felt  the  want  of 
his  customary  exercise,  sickened  and  died,  his 
partner,  Cyrus  P.  Albee,  following  him  some 
years  later.  Reynolds  (Eri)  &  Hayward  (John) 
were  also  early  packers  of  Chicago,  taking 
Dole  &  Marsh's  packing-house,  on  the  South 
Branch,  where  they  carried  on  the  business 
quite  extensively  for  many  years,  packing  for 
themselves  and  others. 

Tobey  (Orville  H.)  &  Booth  (Heman  D.) 
commenced  business  in  their  present  location 
on  the  corner  of  1 8th  and  Grove  streets,  quite 
early.  Mr.  Tobey  commenced  first  melting 
in  a  small  rendering  concern  he  bought  of 
Sylvester  Marsh,  and  moved  there  from  the 
North  Side,  and  from  that  worked  themselves 
up  to  be  the  most  noted  shippers  of  pork  to 
the  old  country,  still  keeping  up  their  reputa- 
tion to  this  day  for  curing  the  best  meats. 

Col.  John  L.  Hancock  came  to  the  city  about 
1853,  making  his  first  venture  in  packing  by 
killingsome  1, 500  head  of  cattle  in  my  slaughter- 
house, on  the  lake  shore  at  Thirty-eighth  Street, 
but  soon  became  one  of  the  largest  packers  in 
the  state,  carrying  on  an  extensive  business  at 
Bridgeport,  both  in  beef  and  pork,  for  many 
years;  and  I  believe  is  still  there  at  his  old 
trade.  I  have  mentioned  all  of  the  first  packers 
of  Chicago;  at  all  events,  all  I  remember. 

I  think  there  were  only  about  35,000  head 
of  cattle  slaughtered  during  the   season  from 

71 


Jltmiini^cntcc^  of  €^icago 

October  to  January  as  late  as  1857,  and  per- 
haps about  150,000  hogs;*  this  seems  a  small 
business  when  compared  with  these  times,  when 
hogs  are  counted  by  the  million,  but  it  was 
then  thought  to  be  a  very  large  trade.  Up  to 
this  time,  1857, 1  had  taken  all,  or  nearly  all,  the 
tallow  and  lard  from  the  various  packing-houses 
of  the  city,  rendering  it  in  the  melting-house 
adjoining  my  factory,  on  the  lake  shore  at  Thirty- 
eighth  Street,  where  I  used  to  manufacture  it 
into  soap,  candles,  lard  oil,  ncat's-foot  oil,  etc., 
supplying  the  country  west  and  north  of  us, 
and  also  in  the  later  years  shipping  tallow  and 
oil  to  New  York  and  Montreal. 

I  commenced  in  the  fall  of  1834,  when  a  few 
hundred  pounds  a  week  was  all  I  could  get 
from  the  different  butchers;  it  kept  increasing 
slowly  until  1843,  when  Felt  and  G.  S.  Hubbard 
commenced  shipping  beef,  and  Sherman  & 
Pitkin  pork,  when,  finding  it  coming  in  faster 
than  I  could  melt  it  by  the  old  process  by  fire,  I 
conceived  the  idea  of  rendering  by  steam. 
John  Rogers  had  tried  it  a  year  before  in  a 
small  way,  but  did  not  make  a  success  of  it; 
but  I  found  no  trouble  in  bringing  it  into  jirac- 
tical  use,  and  from  that  day  to  this  it  has  been 
used  for  all  melting  purposes;  and  at  this  late 
day    has   been   brought  to  such  perfection,  in 

*I5!:kf  Packinc — Capital  invested,  $650,500; 
number  of  cattle  slaughtcrecl,  280O;  barrels  packed, 
97,500.  Annual  receipts,  $824,000. — iViiid^^v  Direc- 
tory, December,  1850. 

72 


Cl^ark^  Cleaber 


the  close  tanks  made  of  boiler-iron,  putting  on 
steam  at  eighty  to  one  hundred  pounds  to  the 
inch,  that  a  tank  of  lard  or  tallow  can  be  melted 
in  a  few  hours.  The  first  tanks  I  used  were  of 
wood,  and  took  twenty  hours  to  render  out. 
P.  W.  Gates  &  Co.,  who  had  just  then  started 
as  boiler-makers  and  machinists,  set  up  the 
first  boiler  for  me,  with  all  the  necessary  coils, 
pipes,  etc.,  and,  from  that  time  until  1856-57, 
I  did  the  melting,  or  nearly  all  of  it,  for  all 
the  packers  then  in  the  city. 

A  firm  from  Cincinnati,  Johnson  &  Co., 
put  up  extensive  melting- works  on  the  .'lake 
shore,  north  of  Thirty-first  Street,  where  they 
purchased  five  acres  of  Willard  F.  Myrick,  in 
1853,  and  spent  some  $40,000  in  setting  up 
their  iron  tanks,  etc.,  but  had  not  capital  enough 
to  carry  it  on,  and  it  became  a  dead  fail- 
ure; but  after  it  had  stood  idle  for  many 
years,  Johnson  came  on  and  commenced  suit 
against  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Co.  for 
ruining  their  business  by  putting  their  tracks 
between  the  building  and  the  lake,  and  managed 
to  get  a  check  out  of  the  company  for  $50,000 
damages.  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  did  his  melt- 
ing there  for  two  or  three  years.  Hough  &  Co. 
were  the  next  to  put  tanks  and  boilers  into 
their  packing-house  at  Bridgeport,  about  the 
year  1854-55;  others  soon  followed;  and  in  1857 
I  gave  up  the  business,  and  from  that  time  all 
the  different  packing-houses  have  had  their 
own  tanks  and  melting  apparatus,  and  there  I 

73 


JHcitiini^cnice^  of  Chicago 

leave  all  reminiscences  of  early  packers  and 
packing. 

I  will  now  give  my  readers  some  idea  of  the 
beginnings  of  the  present  grain  trade  of  the 
city  of  Chicago  which  has  now  reached  such 
enormous  proportions  that  it  is  counted  by  the 
millions  of  bushels;  in  speaking  of  its  growth 
it  will  be  well  to  divide  it  into  four  different 
eras,  which  will  also  mark  the  prosperity  and 
growth  of  the  city. 

For  the  first  three  or  four  years,  or  until 
about  1837,  we  were  indebted  to  other  states 
for  the  larger  part  of  what  was  consumed  in 
the  village  and  surrounding  country;  that 
would  comprise  the  first  era.  From  that  time 
to  1842  or  1843  farmers  began  to  raise  enough 
produce  for  themselves  and  their  neighbors' 
consumption,  as  well  as  supplying  the  citizens 
of  Chicago  with  all  that  was  necessary;  but 
those  years  began  to  show  the  necessity  of 
having  some  foreign  market  to  take  off  their 
surplus  produce,  for  in  the  winter  of  1842-43 
farmers'  produce  of  all  kinds  was  so  low  it 
was  hardly  worth  raising;  for  instance,  dressed 
hogs  sold  as  low  as  ten  to  twelve  shillings  a 
hundred,  lard  three  dollars  and  a  half  a  hundred, 
tallow  six  and  a  quarter,  flour  three  dollars  a 
barrel,  oats  and  potatoes  ten  cents  a  bushel, 
eggs  four  to  five  cents  a  dozen,  dressed  chickens 
and  prairie  hens  five  cents  each.  Such  a  state 
of  things  could  not  last,  as  farmers  found  it 
impossible  to  raise  it  for  the  money,  and  gradu- 

74 


€{)arleif  CJcaber 


ally  all  classes  of  produce  were  held  till  spring, 
for  shipment  round  the  lakes  by  vessel  to  New 
York;  this  would  end  the  second  era. 

From  that  period  prices  gradually  improved; 
but  the  hauling  of  it  so  many  miles  took  off 
nearly  all  the  profit.  Farmers  living  on  Rock 
River  would  take  five  days  to  market  thirty 
bushels  of  wheat,  finding  when  they  got  home 
not  over  ten  or  twelve  dollars  left  out  of  the 
price  of  their  load ;  but  for  some  purposes 
they  had  to  have  a  little  cash,  and  so  continued 
to  bring  it.  This  lasted  until  1850  or  185 1. 
Previous  to  that  time  I  have  seen  fifty  teams 
in  a  line  crossing  the  prairie  west  of  us  with  their 
loads  of  grain  for  Chicago. 

There  was  also  another  class  of  farmers 
from  the  south  that  used,  in  a  measure,  to 
supply  the  city  with  necessaries  in  the  shape 
of  green  and  dried  apples,  butter,  hams,  bacon, 
feathers,  etc.  These  men  would  bring  their 
loads  two  or  three  hundred  miles,  camping  out 
on  the  way,  cooking  their  rasher  of  bacon  and 
corn-dodgers,  and  boiling  their  pot  of  coffee 
over  the  camp-fire,  sleeping  in  their  wagons  at 
night  and  saving  money  enough  out  of  their 
load  to  purchase  a  few  bags  of  coffee,  and  the 
balance  in  salt  —  this  was  the  invariable  return- 
load  of  all  Hoosiers,  who  used  to  come  in  great 
numbers  in  their  curious-shaped  covered  wag- 
ons, known  in  old  times  as  prai7-ie-scIwone7-s. 
I  have  seen  numbers  of  their  teams  camped  out 
on  the  dry  ground  east  of  State  Street.    I  once 

75 


iltmiim^ccncc^  of  Cljicago 

counted  one  hundred  and  sixty  from  the  roof  of 
Bristol  &  Porter's  warehouse,  on  the  corner  of 
State  and  South  Water  streets;  this  closes  the 
third  era,  about  1852,  when  the  iron  horse  made 
its  triumphant  entry  into  the  city  from  the  East, 
snorting  forth  its  volume  of  steam  and  smoke, 
a  blessed  day  indeed  for  the  Great  West,  for 
without  the  railroad  what  could  we  have  done? 
Before  the  Michigan  Southern  and  the 
Michigan  Central  railroads  entered  Chicago 
from  the  East,  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union 
Railroad  Company  was  laying  its  tracks  and 
pushing  on  to  the  West,  making  its  first 
stopping-place  at  the  Des  Plaines  River,  then 
at  Wheaton,  then  the  Junction,  then  on  to 
Elgin,  Pigeon  Prairie,  Belvidere,  Rockford,  and 
other  stations,  until  at  last  it  reached  Freeport, 
relieving  the  farmers  at  every  stopping-place 
from  their  long  and  tedious  journeys  by  team, 
and  enabling  them  to  utilize  their  own  labor  and 
the  service  of  their  teams  in  improving  their 
farms,  and  adding  every  season  to  the  amount 
of  grain  sown,  until  with  the  great  increase  in 
the  last  few  years  of  farm-machinery,  and  the 
facilities  for  moving  and  storing  grain,  tlierc 
seems  to  be  no  end  to  the  amount  forwarded; 
and  although  railroads  have  stretched  their 
iron  arms  through  every  county  in  the  state, 
and  tliousands  of  miles  into  other  states  and 
territories  west  of  us,  it  is  as  much  and  more 
tlian  they  can  do  to  relieve  the  farmer  of  his 
surplus  produce.  What  will  be  done  with  it 
in  the  next  fifty  years  time  alone  will  reveal. 
76 


[Reprinted    from   "The    Autobiography  of   Joseph 
Jefferson,"  by  permission  of  The  Century  Co.] 


IN  the  year  1838  the  new  town  of  Chicago 
had  just  turned  from  an  Indian  village  into 
a  thriving  little  place,  and  my  uncle  had 
written  to  my  father  urging  him  to  join  in  the 
management  of  the  new  theater  which  was 
then  being  built  there.  As  each  fresh  venture 
presented  itself,  my  father's  hopeful  nature 
predicted  immediate  and  successful  results. 
He  had  scarcely  finished  the  letter  when  he 
declared  that  our  fortunes  were  made,  so  we 
turned  our  faces  towards  the  setting  sun.  In 
those  days  a  journey  from  Albany  to  Chicago 
was  no  small  undertaking  for  a  large  family 
in  straitened  circumstances;  certain  cherished 
articles  had  to  be  parted  with  to  procure 
necessary  comforts  for  the  trip.  I  really  do 
not  know  how,  but  we  got  from  Albany  to 
Schenectady,  where  we  acted  for  a  few  nights 
with  a  company  that  was  playing  there. 
Several  of  the  actors,  who  had  received  no 
salary  for  some  time,  decided  to  accompany 
my  father  and  seek  their  fortunes  in  the  West. 
As  I  remember  it,  our  journey  was  long,  but 
not  tedious.  We  traveled  part  of  the  way  in 
a  fast-sailing  packet-boat  on  the  Erie  Canal, 

77 


Itcmini^ccncc^  of  Cl)icago 

the  only  smoke  issuing  from  the  caboose  stove- 
pipe. I  can  remember  our  party  admiring  this 
craft  with  the  same  enthusiasm  that  we  now 
express  in  looking  at  a  fine  ocean  steamer. 
She  was  painted  white  and  green  and  enlivened 
with  blue  window  blinds  and  a  broad  red  stripe 
running  from  bow  to  stern.  Her  name  was 
the  Pioneer,  which  was  to  us  most  suggestive, 
as  our  little  band  was  among  the  early  dramatic 
emigrants  to  the  far  West.  The  boat  resem- 
bled a  Noah's  ark  with  a  flat  roof,  and  my 
father,  like  the  patriarch  of  old,  took  his  entire 
family  on  board,  — with  this  difference,  how- 
ever: he  was  required  to  pay  his  passage,  it 
being  understood  between  him  and  the  captain 
that  he  should  stop  a  night  in  Utica  and  one 
in  Syracuse,  give  a  theatrical  entertainment  in 
each  place,  and  hand  over  the  receipts  in  pay- 
ment of  our  fare. 

We  acted  in  Utica  for  one  night,  and  the 
receipts  were  cjuite  good.  My  father  and 
mother  were  in  high  spirits,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  captain  had  hopes  that  the  next 
night's  entertainment  in  Syracuse  would  liqui- 
date our  liabilities,  for  there  was  a  visible 
improvement  in  the  coffee  at  breakfast,  and 
an  extra  piece  of  pic  all  around  for  dinner. 
The  next  night,  unfortunately,  the  elements 
were  against  us;  it  rained  in  torrents  and  the 
attendance  was  light,  so  that  we  were  short  of 
our  passage  money  about  ten  doHars. 

The  captain,  being  a  strict  member  of  the 
78 


-  Church,  could  not  attend  either  of  the 


performances,  and  as  he  was  in  his  heart  most 
anxious  to  see  what  acting  was  like,  he  pro- 
posed that  if  the  company  would  "cut  up"  for 
him  and  give  him  a  private  show  in  the  cabin 
he  would  call  it  "square."  Our  actors,  being 
highly  legitimate,  declined;  but  my  mother, 
ever  anxious  to  show  off  the  histrionic  qualities 
of  her  son,  proposed  that  I  should  sing  some 
comic  songs  for  the  captain,  and  so  ransom 
the  rest  of  the  actors.  The  captain  turned  it 
over  in  his  mind, — being,  I  am  afraid,  a  little 
suspicious  of  my  genius, — ^but  after  due  con- 
sideration consented.  So  he  prepared  himself 
for  the  entertainment,  the  cook  and  my  mother 
comprising  the  rest  of  the  audience.  The 
actors  had  wisely  retired  to  the  upper  deck,  as 
they  had  been  afflicted  on  former  occasions. 
I  now  began  a  dismal  comic  song  called  "The 
Devil  and  Little  Mike."  It  consisted  of  some 
twenty-five  stanzas,  each  one  containing  two 
lines  with  a  large  margin  of  "whack  fol  de 
riddle."  It  was  never  clear  whether  the  cap- 
tain enjoyed  this  entertainment  or  not.  My 
mother  said  he  did,  for,  though  the  religious 
turn  of  his  mind  would  naturally  suppress  any 
impulse  to  applaud,  he  said  even  before  I  had 
half  finished  that  he  was  quite  satisfied. 

On  our  arrival  in  Buffalo  we  found  another 
pioneer  company,  under  the  management  of 
Dean  and  McKenney.  Here  we  stayed  over 
two  or  three  days,  waiting  for  the  steamer  to 

79 


Irlmiini^cciicc^  of  Chicago 

take  us  up  the  lakes.  Marble  was  starring 
there;  he  was  one  of  the  first  and  best  of  the 
Yankee  comedians.  In  those  days  the  stage 
New  Engiander  was  acted  and  dressed  in  a 
most  extravagant  manner.  I  remember  see- 
ing Marble  play,  and  his  costume  was  much 
after  the  present  caricature  of  Uncle  Sam, 
minus  the  stars  but  glorying  in  the  stripes. 

In  a  few  days  we  steamed  up  the  beautiful 
lakes  of  Erie,  Huron  and  Michigan.  The 
boat  would  stop  sometimes  for  hours  at  one  of 
the  stations  to  take  in  wood,  or  a  strav  pas- 
senger, and  then  the  Indians  would  padclle  out 
to  us  in  their  canoes,  offering  their  beadwork 
and  moccasins  for  sale.  Sometimes  we  would 
go  ashore  and  walk  on  the  beach,  gathering 
pebbles,  carnelians,  and  agates.  I  thought 
them  of  immense  value,  and  kept  my  treasures 
for  years  afterwards.  What  a  lovely  trip  it 
was  as  I  remember  it!  Lake  Huron  at  sunset 
is  before  me  now — a  purple  sky  melting  into  a 
golden  horizon;  rich  green  foliage  on  the 
banks;  yellow  sand  with  many-colored  pebbles 
making  the  beach  of  the  lake;  the  clear  and 
glassy  water;  groups  of  Indians  lolling  on  the 
banks,  smoking  their  pipes  and  making  baskets; 
the  hills  dotted  with  their  little  villages  of 
tents  made  of  skins  and  painted  canvas;  blue 
smoke  curling  slowly  up  in  the  calm  summer 
air;  and  all  the  bright  colors  reflected  in  the 
lake.  I  stood  there  as  a  boy,  skimming  flat 
stones  over  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  now 
80 


as  I  write  in  the  autumn  of  my  life  these  once 
quiet  shores  are  covered  with  busy  cities;  the 
furnaces  glow  with  melted  iron,  the  locomotive 
screams  and  whistles  along  the  road  where 
once  the  ox-teams  used  to  carry  the  mail,  and 
corner  lots  and  real-estate  agents  "fill  the  air." 
When  we  think  that  all  these  wonderful  changes 
have  taken  place  within  the  last  fifty  years,  it 
is  startling  to  speculate  upon  what  the  next 
half-century  may  bring  about. 

So  dav  by  day  passes,  till  one  night  a  light 
is  espied  in  the  distance,  then  another,  and 
then  many  more  dance  and  reflect  themselves 
in  the  water.  It  is  too  late  to  go  ashore,  so  we 
drop  anchor.  At  sunrise  we  are  all  on  deck 
looking  at  the  haven  of  our  destination,  and 
there  in  the  morning  light,  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Michigan,  stands  the  little  town  of 
Chicago,  containing  two  thousand  inhabitants. 
Aunt,  uncle,  and  their  children  come  to  meet 
and  welcome  us.  Then  there  is  such  a  shaking 
of  hands  and  a  kiss  all  around,  and  "Why,  how 
well  you  are  looking!"  and  "Is  that  Charlie? 
How  he  has  grown!"  "Why,  that's  not  Joe! 
Dear  me,  who'd  have  believed  it?"  And  then 
we  all  laugh  again  and  have  another  kiss. 

The  captain  said  he  had  enjoyed  a  splendid 
trip  —  such  fun,  such  music  and  singing  and 
dancing.  "Well,  good-bye  all!"  "Good 
luck!"  and  off  we  go  ashore  and  walk  through 
the  busy  little  town,  busy  even  then,  people 
hurrying  to  and  fro,  frame  buildings  going  up, 
8i 


J!tcmini!^ccttcc^  of  Cljicago 

board  sidewalks  going  down,  new  liotcls,  new 
cliurches,  new  theaters,  everything  new.  Saw 
and  hammer — saw!  saw!  bang!  bang! — -look 
out  for  the  drays! — bright  and  muddy  streets, 
gaudy-colored  calicos,  blue  and  red  flannels 
and  striped  ticking  hanging  outside  the  dry- 
goods  stores,  bar-rooms,  real-estate  offices, 
attorneys-at-law, — oceans  of  them! 

And  now  for  the  new  theater!  Newly 
painted  canvas,  tack-hammer  at  work  on 
stuffed  seats  in  the  dress  circle,  planing  boards 
in  the  pit,  new  drop  curtain  let  down  for 
inspection,  —  "beautiful!" — a  medallion  of 
Shakspcre,  suffering  from  a  severe  pain  in  his 
stomach,  over  the  center,  with  "One  touch  of 
nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin"  written 
under  him,  and  a  large,  painted,  brick-red 
drapery  looped  up  by  Justice,  with  sword  and 
scales,  showing  an  arena  with  a  large  number 
of  gladiators  hacking  away  at  one  another  in 
the  distance  to  a  delightful  Roman  public; 
though  what  Justice  had  to  do  with  keeping 
these  gladiators  on  exhibition  was  never  clearly 
explained  by  the  artist.  There  were  two 
private  boxes  with  little  white-and-gold  balus- 
trades and  turkey-red  curtains;  over  one  box 
a  portrait  of  Beethoven  and  over  the  other  a 
portrait  of  Handel — upon  unfriendly  terms, 
glaring  at  each  other.  The  dome  was  pale 
blue,  with  pink-and-white  clouds,  on  which 
reposed  four  ungraceful  ballet  girls  representing 
the  seasons,  and  apparently  dropping  flowers, 
82 


snow  and  grapes  into  the  pit.  Over  each 
season  there  floated  four  fat  httle  cherubim  "in 
various  stages  of  spinal  curvature." 

My  father,  being  a  scenic  artist  himself,  was 
naturally  disposed  to  be  critical,  and  when  the 
painter  asked  his  opinion  of  the  dome,  he 
replied: 

"Well,  since  you  asked  me,  don't  you  think 
that  your  angels  are  a  little  stiff  in  their 
attitudes?" 

"No,  sir;  not  for  angels.  When  I  deal  with 
mythological  subjects  I  never  put  my  figures 
in  natural  attitudes;  it  would  be  inharmonious. 
A  natural  angel  would  be  out  of  keeping  with 
the  rest  of  the  work." 

To  which  my  father  replied  that  it  was  quite 
likely  that  such  would  be  the  case.  "But  why 
have  you  made  Handel  and  Beethoven  frown 
at  each  other?  They  are  not  mythological 
subjects." 

"No,  no,"  said  the  painter.  "But  they  are 
musicians,  you  know;  and  great  musicians 
always  quarrel,  eh?     Ha  ha!" 

"Yes,"  said  my  father;  "but  as  Handel 
died  before  Beethoven  was  born,  I  don't  see 
how  any  coolness  could  have  existed  between 
them." 

The  foregoing  dialogue,  while  it  may  not  be 
verbatim,  is  at  least  in  the  spirit  of  the  original. 
I  could  not  possibly  remember  the  exact  words 
of  the  different  conversations  that  will  naturally 
occur  through  these  chapters;  but  I  have  placed 

83 


^I!cniini.itfcenccif  of  €f)irago 

them  in  their  present  form,  as  I  believe  it  is 
the  clearest  and  most  effective  way  to  tell  the 
story.  Many  of  the  conversations  and  incidents 
are  traditional  in  my  family;  I  have  good  reason 
to  take  them  for  granted,  and  I  must  ask  the 
reader  to  share  my  confidence. 

The  greenroom  was  a  perfect  gem,  with  a 
three-foot  wavy  mirror  and  cushioned  seats 
around  the  wall — traps  under  the  stage  so  con- 
venient that  Ophelia  could  walk  from  her  grave 
to  her  dressing-room  with  perfect  ease. 

With  what  delight  the  actors  looked  forward 
to  the  opening  of  a  new  theater  in  a  new  town, 
where  dramatic  entertainments  were  still 
unknown — repairing  their  wardrobes,  studying 
their  new  parts,  and  speculating  on  the  laurels 
that  were  to  be  w'on ! 

After  a  short  season  in  Chicago,  with  the 
varying  success  which  in  those  days  always 
attended  the  drama,  the  company  went  to 
Galena  for  a  short  season,  traveling  in  open 
wagons  over  the  prairie.  Our  seats  were  the 
trunks  that  contained  the  wardrobe — those  old- 
fashioned  hair  trunks  of  a  mottled  and  spotted 
character  made  from  the  skins  of  defunct  circus 
horses:  "To  what  base  uses  we  may  return!" 
These  smooth  hair  trunks,  with  geometrical 
problems  in  brass  tacks  oimamenting  their  sur- 
faces, would  have  made  sli]:>pery  seats  even  on 
a  macadamized  road,  so  one  may  imagine  the 
difficulty  we  had  in  holding  on  while  jolting 
over  a  rough  prairie.  Nothing  short  of  a  severe 
84 


pressure  on  the  brass  tacks  and  a  convulsive 
grip  on  the  handles  could  have  kept  us  in 
position;  and  whenever  a  treacherous  handle 
gave  way  our  company  was  for  the  time  being 
just  one  member  short.  As  we  were  not  an 
express  mail-train,  of  course  we  were  allowed 
more  than  twenty  minutes  for  refreshments. 
We  stopped  at  farmhouses  on  the  way  for  this 
uncertain  necessity,  and  they  were  far  apart. 
If  the  roads  v;ere  heavy  and  the  horses  jaded, 
those  actors  who  had  tender  hearts  and  tough 
limbs  jumped  out  and  walked  to  ease  the  poor 
brutes.  Often  I  have  seen  my  father  trudging 
along  ahead  of  the  wagon,  smoking  his  pipe, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  thinking  of  the  large 
fortune  he  was  going  to  make  in  the  next 
town,  now  and  then  looking  back  with  his  light 
blue  eyes,  giving  my  mother  a  cheerful  nod 
which  plainly  said:  "I'm  all  right.  This  is 
splendid;  nothing  could  be  finer."  If  it  rained 
he  was  glad  it  was  not  snowing;  if  it  snowed 
he  was  thankful  it  was  not  raining.  This  con- 
tented nature  was  his  only  inheritance;  but  it 
was  better  than  a  fortune  made  in  Galena  or 
anywhere  else,  for  nothing  could  rob  him  of  it. 
We  traveled  from  Galena  to  Dubuque  on 
the  frozen  river  in  sleighs  —  smoother  work 
than  the  roughly  rutted  roads  of  the  prairie ;  but 
it  was  a  perilous  journey,  for  a  warm  spell  had 
set  in  and  made  the  ice  sloppy  and  unsafe. 
We  would  sometimes  hear  it  crack  and  see  it 
bend  under  our  horses'  feet :  now  a  long-drawn 

85 


iJIcininijefcniccj^  of  Cfjicago 

breath  of  relief  as  we  passed  some  dangerous 
spot,  then  a  convulsive  grasping  of  our  nearest 
companion  as  the  ice  groaned  and  shook 
beneath  us.  Well,  the  passengers  arrived 
safe,  but,  horror  to  relate!  tlie  sleigh  contain- 
ing the  baggage,  private  and  public,  with  the 
scenery  and  properties,  green  curtain  and  drop, 
broke  through  the  ice  and  tumbled  into  the 
Mississippi.  My  poor  mother  was  in  tears, 
but  my  father  was  in  high  spirits  at  his  good 
luck,  as  he  called  it — because  there  was  a  sand- 
bar where  the  sleigh  went  in!  So  the  things 
were  saved  at  last,  though  in  a  forlorn  con- 
dition. The  opening  had  to  be  delayed  in 
order  to  dry  the  wardrobe  and  smooth  the 
scenery. 

The  halls  of  the  hotel  were  strung  with 
clothes-lines,  and  the  costumes  of  all  nations 
festooned  the  doors  of  the  bedrooms,  so  that 
when  an  unsuspicious  boarder  came  out  sud- 
denly into  the  entry  he  was  likely  to  run  his 
head  into  a  damp  "Roman"  skirt,  or  perhaps 
have  the  legs  of  a  soaking  pair  of  red  tights 
dangling  round  his  neck.  Mildew  filled  the 
air.  The  gilded  pasteboard  helmets  fared  the 
worst.  They  had  succumbed  to  the  softening 
influences  of  the  Mississippi,  and  were  as 
battered  and  out  of  shape  as  if  they  had  gone 
through  the  pass  of  Thermopvhi'.  Limp  leg- 
gins  of  scale  armour  hung  wet  and  dejected 
from  the  lines;  low-spirited  cocked  hats  were 
piled  up  in  the  corner;  rough-dried  court  coats 


stretched  their  arms  out  as  if  in  the  agony  of 
drowning,  as  though  they  would  say,  "Help 
me,  Cassius,  or  I  sink."  Theatrical  scenery 
at  its  best  looks  pale  and  shabby  in  the  day- 
time, but  a  well-worn  set  after  a  six-hours' 
bath  in  a  river  presents  the  most  wobegone 
appearance  that  can  well  be  imagined;  the  sky 
and  water  of  the  marine  had  so  mingled  with 
each  other  that  the  horizon  line  had  quite  dis- 
appeared. My  father  had  painted  the  scenery, 
and  he  was  not  a  little  crestfallen  as  he  looked 
upon  the  ruins;  a  wood  scene  had  amalgamated 
with  a  Roman  street  painted  on  the  back  of  it, 
and  had  so  run  into  stains  and  winding  streaks 
that  he  said  it  looked  like  a  large  map  of 
South  America;  and  pointing  out  the  Andes 
with  his  cane,  he  humorously  traced  the  Amazon 
to  its  source.  Of  course  this  mishap  on  the 
river  delayed  the  opening  for  a  week.  In  the 
meantime  the  scenery  had  to  be  repainted  and 
the  wardrobe  put  in  order;  many  of  the  things 
were  ruined,  and  the  helmets  defied  repair. 

After  a  short  and,  I  think,  a  good  season  at 
Dubuque,  we  traveled  along  the  river  to  the 
different  towns  just  springing  up  in  the  West — 
Burlington,  Quincy,  Peoria,  Pekin  and  Spring- 
field. In  those  primitive  days,  I  need  scarcely 
say,  we  were  often  put  to  severe  shifts  for  a 
theater. 

In  Quincy  the  courthouse  was  fitted  up, 
and  it  answered  admirably.  In  one  town  a 
large  warehouse  was  utilized,  but  in  Pekin  we 
87 


J!5ntiini,0ccncc^  of  Cl)icago 

were  reduced  to  the  dire  necessity  of  acting  in  a 
pork-house.  This  establishment  was  a  large 
frame  building,  stilted  up  on  piles  about  two 
feet  from  the  ground,  and  situated  in  the  open 
prairie  just  at  the  edge  of  the  town.  The 
pigs  were  banished  from  their  comfortable 
quarters,  and  left  to  browse  about  on  the 
common  during  the  day,  taking  shelter  under 
their  former  abode  in  the  evening.  After 
undergoing  some  slight  repairs  in  the  roof, 
and  submitting  to  a  thorough  scouring  and 
whitewashing,  the  building  presented  quite  a 
respectable  appearance.  The  opening  play 
was  "Clari,  the  Maid  of  Milan."  This  drama 
was  written  by  John  Howard  Payne,  and  his 
song  of  "Home,  Sweet  Home"  belongs  to  the 
play.  My  mother,  on  this  occasion,  played 
the  part  of  C/;/;-/ and  sang  the  touching  jjallad. 
Now  it  is  a  pretty  well  established  fact  in 
theatrical  history  that  if  an  infant  has  been 
smuggled  into  the  theater  under  the  shawl  of 
its  fond  mother,  however  dormant  it  may  have 
been  during  the  unimportant  scenes  of  the 
play,  no  sooner  is  an  interesting  point  arrived 
at,  where  the  most  perfect  stillness  is  required, 
than  the  "dear  little  innocent"  will  break  forth 
into  lamentation  loud  and  deep.  On  this 
occasion  no  youthful  humanity  disturbed  the 
peace,  but  the  "animal  kingdom,"  in  the  shape 
of  the  banished  pigs,  asserted  its  right  to  a 
public  hearing.  As  soon  as  tlic  song  of 
"Home,  Sweet  ?Iome"  commenced  they  began 


by  bumping  their  backs  up  against  tlie  beams, 
keeping  anytliing  but  good  time  to  the  music; 
and  as  my  mother  plaintively  chanted  the  theme 
"Sweet,  Sweet  Home,"  reaHzing  their  own 
cruel  exile,  the  pigs  squealed  most  dismally. 
Of  course  the  song  was  ruined,  and  my  mother 
was  in  tears  at  the  failure.  My  father,  how- 
ever, consoled  her  by  saying  that  though  the 
grunting  was  not  quite  in  harmony  with  the 
music,  it  was  in  perfect  sympathy  with  the 
sentiment. 

Springfield  being  the  capital  of  Illinois,  it 
was  determined  to  devote  the  entire  season  to 
the  entertainment  of  the  members  of  the  legis- 
lature. Having  made  money  for  several  weeks 
previous  to  our  arrival  here,  the  management 
resolved  to  hire  a  lot  and  build  a  theater. 
This  sounds  like  a  large  undertaking,  and 
perhaps  with  their  limited  means  it  was  a  rash 
step.  I  fancy  that  my  father  rather  shrunk 
from  this  bold  enterprise,  but  the  senior  partner 
(McKenzie)  was  made  of  sterner  stuff,  and,  his 
energy  being  quite  equal  to  his  ambition,  the 
ground  was  broken  and  the  temple  erected. 

The  building  of  a  theater  in  those  days  did 
not  require  the  amount  of  capital  that  it  does 
now.  Folding  opera-chairs  were  unknown. 
Gas  was  an  occult  mystery,  not  yet  acknowl- 
eged  as  a  fact  by  the  unscientific  world  in  the 
West;  a  second-class  quality  of  sperm-oil  was 
the  height  of  any  manager's  ambition.  The 
footlights  of  the  best  theaters  in  the  western 


lltcmini^ccncc^  of  onjicago 

country  were  composed  of  lamps  set  in  a 
"float"  with  tlie  counter-weights.  When  a 
dark  stage  was  required,  or  the  lamps  needed 
trimming  or  refilling,  this  mechanical  con- 
trivance was  made  to  sink  under  the  stage.  I 
believe  if  the  theater,  or  "Devil's  workshop," 
as  it  was  sometimes  called,  had  suddenly  been 
illuminated  with  the  same  material  now  in  use, 
its  enemies  would  have  declared  that  the  light 
was  furnished  from  the  "Old  Boy's"  private 
gasometer. 

The  new  theater,  when  completed,  was 
about  ninety  feet  deep  and  forty  feet  wide. 
No  attempt  was  made  at  ornamentation;  and 
as  it  was  unpainted,  the  simple  lines  of 
architecture  uj^on  which  it  was  constructed 
gave  it  the  appearance  of  a  large  dry-goods 
box  with  a  roof.  I  do  not  think  my  father, 
or  McKenzie,  ever  owned  anything  with  a 
roof  until  now,  so  they  were  naturally  proud 
of  their  possession. 

In  the  midst  of  our  rising  fortunes  a  heavy 
blow  fell  upon  us.  A  religious  revival  was  in 
progress  at  the  time,  and  the  fathers  of  the 
church  not  only  launched  forth  against  us  in 
their  sermons,  but  by  some  political  mancxiuvre 
got  the  city  to  pass  a  new  law  enjoining  a  heavy 
license  against  our  "unlioly"  calling;  I  forget 
the  amount,  but  it  was  large  enough  to  be 
prohibitory.  Here  was  a  terrible  condition  of 
affairs:  all  our  available  funds  invested,  the 
legislature  in  session,  the  town  full  of  people, 
90 


and  we  by  a  heavy  license  denied  tlie  privilege 
of  opening  the  new  theater! 

In  the  midst  of  our  trouble  a  young  lawyer 
called  on  the  managers.  He  had  heard  of  the 
injustice,  and  offered,  if  they  would  place  the 
matter  in  his  hands,  to  have  the  license  taken 
off,  declaring  that  he  only  desired  to  see  fair 
play,  and  he  would  accept  no  fee  whether  he 
failed  or  succeeded.  The  case  was  brought 
up  before  the  council.  The  young  lawyer 
began  his  harangue.  He  handled  the  subject 
with  tact,  skill  and  humor,  tracing  the  history 
of  the  drama  from  the  time  when  Thespis  acted 
in  a  cart  to  the  stage  of  to-day.  He  illustrated 
his  speech  with  a  number  of  anecdotes,  and 
and  kept  the  council  in  a  roar  of  laughter;  his 
good-humor  prevailed,  and  the  exorbitant  tax 
was  taken  off. 

This  young  lawyer  was  very  popular  in 
Springfield,  and  was  honored  and  beloved  by 
all  who  knew  him,  and  after  the  time  of  which 
I  write  he  held  rather  an  important  position  in 
the  government  of  the  United  States.  He  now 
lies  buried  near  Springfield,  under  a  monument 
commemorating  his  greatness  and  his  virtues  — 
and  his  name  was  Abraham  Lincoln! 


91 


[Reprinted  from  Andraes's  "History  of  Chicago."] 


IT  took  many  years  for  the  people  of  Illinois 
to  decide  that  the  proper  highway  over 
which  the  wealth  of  the  Northwest  was  to 
pass  should  be  a  combination  of  lake  and  rail- 
road, rather  than  of  lake,  canal  and  river. 
The  river  towns  had,  since  the  first  settlement, 
enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  public  favor,  and 
even  for  some  time  after  a  few  railroads  had 
been  chartered,  these  proposed  highways 
seemed  to  push  toward  the  river  and  to  promise 
most  of  their  benefits  to  the  river  sections. 
St.  Louis,  especially,  which  had  for  many 
years  enjoyed  a  large  river  trade,  was  looking 
for  still  greater  commercial  supremacy,  whether 
the  rich  state  to  the  east  should  decide  to 
throw  its  energies  into  the  improvement  of  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  or  into  the  develop- 
ment of  a  grand  railway  system.  The  handi- 
work of  this  wealthy  Missouri  town  is  early 
seen  in  the  legislative  proceedings  of  Illinois. 
The  first  movement  of  this  state  looking  toward 
the  construction  of  a  railway  was  an  act 
passed  in  January,  1 83 1,  authorizing  a  survey 
from  the  bluffs  of  St.  Clair  County,  along 
the  American  bottom,  to  the  Mississippi 
River,  near  St.  Louis.     Commissioners  were 

93 


iHmiini^ccncc^  of  Ct)icago 

appointed  for  this  purpose.  At  the  same 
session  the  commissioners  of  the  Illinois  & 
Michigan  Canal  were  to  ascertain  whether  a 
railroad  or  a  canal  would  be  preferable  between 
the  Chicago  and  Desplaines  rivers.  A  canal 
was  deemed  more  desirable.  Even  the  plank 
roads  through  Illinois  seemed  to  be  naturally 
tending  toward  the  great  river  town.  Already 
a  state  road  had  been  built  from  Vincennes, 
Indiana,  to  St.  Louis,  and  was  much  traveled. 
In  1832  the  Springfield  &  Alton  Turnpike 
road  was  incorporated,  its  river  terminus  to  be 
in  St.  Clair  County,  opposite  St.  Louis. 
Chicago  was,  however,  early  alive  to  the 
necessity  of  constructing  a  system  of  railways 
which  should  cut  the  many  ties  then  binding 
her  own  legitimate  territory  to  her  old  rival. 

There  was  yet  another  candidate  for  com- 
mercial supremacy  in  the  field,  and  the  state 
was  for  some  time  undetermined  as  to  whether 
the  harbor  and  canal  of  Chicago  would  tend  to 
develop  this  city  into  a  greater  business  center 
than  the  lead  mines  would  the  village  of  Galena. 
As  previously  remarked,  the  friends  of  Chicago 
saw  the  necessity  of  doing  something  to  bring 
her  naturally  tributary  territory  into  close  com- 
munication with  herself,  and,  also,  by  some 
system  which  should  not  pour  a  flood  of  ad- 
vantages into  the  rich  city  which  sat  by  the 
river,  waiting  to  be  made  wealthier.  The  agi- 
tation of  a  great  central  railroad  through  the 
state  therefore  conimcnced,  which  was  to  be 

94 


fit0t  iHailroali  ^p^teiti^ 

operated  in  connection  with  the  Illinois  & 
Michigan  Canal,  and  to  strike  the  southern 
border  of  Illinois,  at  or  near  the  junction  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  there  to  con- 
nect with  the  railway  system  of  the  South. 
The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  may  be  called 
the  first  great  "St.  Louis  cut-off,"  and  as  such 
placed  Chicago  firmly  upon  her  throne  as  the 
magnificent  Queen  of  the  West.  The  preface 
to  this  triumphant  undertaking  was  the  intro- 
duction of  a  bill  in  the  state  senate,  in  1 832, 
by  Lieutenant-Governor  A.  M.  Jenkins,  for 
the  survey  of  a  central  railroad  from  Cairo  to 
Peru.  But  public  opinion  had  not  yet  been 
molded  to  see  its  necessity,  and  there  the 
project  rested.  In  1834  the  Chicago  and 
Vincennes  Railroad  was  incorporated,  but  the 
work  was  not  commenced  for  many  years 
thereafter.  Interest  in  the  central  railroad 
was  revived  by  an  enthusiastic  letter,  which 
appeared  in  the  public  prints,  written  by  Sidney 
Breese,  circuit  judge,  afterward  judge  of  the 
state  supreme  court,  and  United  States  senator. 
It  is  as  follows: — 

Vandalia,  October  16,  1835. 

John  T.  Sawyer,  Esq. 

IJ>c-ar  Sir, —  Having  some  leisure  from  the  labors 
of  my  circuit,  I  am  induced  to  devote  a  portion  of 
it  in  giving  to  the  public  a  plan,  the  outline  of  which 
was  suggested  to  me  by  an  intelligent  friend  in  Bond 
County  a  few  days  since  (Mr.  Waite  of  Greenville), 
by  which  the  North  may  get  their  long-wished-for 
canal,  and    the    southern    and    interior    counties    a 

95 


JUntiini^ccncc^  of  Cfjicago 

channel  of  communication  quite  as  essential  to  their 
prosperity.  In  doing  so,  I  have  not  stopped  to 
inquire  if  my  motives  may  not  be  assailed,  and  my- 
self subjected  to  unkind  remarks,  believing,  as  I  do, 
that  the  subject  is  of  so  much  importance  as  to 
throw  all  personal  considerations  into  the  shade. 
The  plan  then  is  this:  At  the  junction  of  the  canal 
with  the  Illinois  River  let  a  railroad  be  constructed, 
to  extend  to  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi,  following,  as  near  as  may  be,  the  third 
principal  meridian,  and  let  the  credit  of  the  state  be 
pledged  for  the  funds  necessary  to  complete  both 
works.  This  would  be  doing  equal  and  impartial 
justice  to  three  of  the  most  prominent  portions  of 
our  state,  and  would  create  a  unity  of  effort  and 
concert  of  action  that  would  overcome  every  obstacle. 
The  general  government  also  would  grant  some  of 
the  unappropriated  land  on  the  contemplated  road 
throughout  its  whole  extent  in  aid  of  the  undertaking, 
and  that  it  can  be  accomplished  with  the  means  we 
can  raise  there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  When 
made,  its  benefits  will  be  incalculable.  It  will  make 
the  southern  and  interior  counties,  cause  them  to 
settle,  raise  the  value  of  their  lands  (which  are 
intrinsically  as  good  as  anyi,  and  furnish  the  means 
of  transportation  for  their  products  either  to  a 
northern  or  southern  market,  of  which  they  are  now 
destitute.  It  is  a  stupendous  project,  but  one  so 
easy  of  accomplishment,  so  just,  so  equal,  and 
so  well  calculated  to  revive  the  drooping  energies 
of  the  South  and  of  the  interior,  that  no  doubt  can 
be  entertained,  if  our  effort  is  made  at  the  approach- 
ing session  of  the  legislature,  but  that  the  canal  and 
the  road  will  be  under  contract  in  less  than  six 
months  after  the  loan  is  authorized. 

No  sectional  objections  can  operate  successfully 
against  the  project,  nor  will  the  people  complain  of 
a  loan  the  benefits  of  which  are  to  be  so  general 
and  so  important.  Posterity  will  have  no  cause  of 
complaint  if  we  do  leave  them  a  debt  to  pay,  when 
96 


f  ir^t  Jitailroati  ^pjBftmi^ 

at  the  same  time  we  leave  them  the  most  ample 
means  for  discharging  it.  These  things  have  not 
been  regarded  in  the  proper  light.  No  objection 
should  ever  be  made  to  incurring  such  debts  when 
the  fund  is  left  out  of  which  to  pay  them.  As  well 
might  the  heir  object  to  taking  his  estate  of  half  a 
million  because  encumbered  by  a  mortgage  of  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  By  a  united,  zealous 
effort  at  the  next  session,  an  artificial  artery  through 
the  heart  of  our  state,  the  fairest  and  richest  in  the 
Union,  can  be  made,  which  will  not  be  surpassed 
by  the  stupendous  achievements  of  a  similar  kind 
in  the  other  and  older  states.  To  avoid  jealousies 
and  heartburnings,  let  the  expenditures  on  both 
works  commence  at  the  same  time  and  be  prosecuted 
with  equal  energy,  and,  when  this  main  artery  is 
finished,  it  will  not  be  long  before  smaller  ones 
branching  off  to  the  Wabash  and  Upper  Mississippi 
will  be  constructed.  Then  Illinois  will  rival  any 
other  state  of  our  vast  confederacy,  not  excepting 
even  that  which  is  so  proudly,  yet  so  justly,  styled 
the  "Empire  State." 

To  ascertain  the  interests  that  can  be  brought  to 
bear  in  its  favor,  take  a  map  of  the  state  and  trace 
upon  it  the  proposed  route,  and  notice  the  many 
important  and  flourishing  counties  and  towns  it  will 
pass  through  and  which  it  will  benefit. 

Assuming  Utica  or  Ottawa  as  the  point  at  which 
the  canal  will  terminate,  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  bears 
from  it  some  few  miles  west.  To  reach  it,  the  road 
would  pass  through  La  Salle,  McLean,  Macon,  a  part 
of  Shelby,  Fayette,  a  part  of  Bond,  Clinton,  Wash- 
ington, Perry,  Jackson,  Union,  and  terminate  as 
above  in  Alexander  County.  Pursuing  nearly  a 
direct  line,  it  would  pass  through  Bloomington, 
Decatur  and  Vandalia,  where  it  would  intersect  the 
National  Road,  Carlyle,  New  Nashville,  Pinck- 
neyville,  Brownsville,  Jonesboro, — all  seats  of  justice 
of  the  counties  in  which  they  are  situate.  Along 
the  whole  route,  especially  on  the  southern  portion 

97 


iltciiitni^ccucci^  of  €l)icago 

of  it,  abundant  materials  of  the  best  kind  can  be 
had  to  construct  the  work.  The  distance  from  one 
extreme  to  the  other,  on  a  straight  line,  is  only  three 
hundred  miles,  and  the  necessary  deviations  from 
that  course  will  not  make  it  more  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  miles.  Three  fourths  of  it  (that  is  to 
say,  from  Utica  or  Ottawa  to  Pinckneyville,  in 
Perry  County),  the  surface  of  the  country,  so  far 
as  you  can  determine  by  the  eye,  is  level  or  undu- 
lating; the  remainder  is  hilly,  but  by  no  means 
mountainous. 

Takingtheestimatedcostof  the  Alton  &  Springfield 
road  as  data  (which  is  on  an  average  a  fraction 
over  $7,000  per  mile),  the  cost  of  this  will  not  exceed 
$2,500,000,  a  sum  insignificant  indeed  when  we  con- 
sider the  immense  benefits  to  ourselves  and  to 
posterity  that  must  flow  from  its  expenditure  for 
such  an  object.  Allowing  fifteen  miles  an  hour  as 
the  maximum  of  speed  upon  it,  a  locomotive  with 
its  train  of  cars  can  kindle  its  fire  at  Ottawa  in  the 
morning  and  on  the  next  rekindle  it  at  the  junction 
of  the  Ohio.  From  this  point  an  uninterrupted 
communication  exists  at  all  seasons  with  every  part 
of  the  world,  and  when  the  canal  and  the  lakes  of 
the  North  are  locked  up  by  ice  the  markets  of  the 
South  can  be  reached  with  certainty  and  speed  by 
the  railway  and  the  Mississippi.  Let  then  the  South, 
the  interior,  and  the  North  unite — let  the  project  be 
submitted  at  the  coming  session,  let  the  loan  be 
authorized,  and  let  us  all  enter  upon  it  with  that 
determined  spirit  which  should  characterize  all  great 
imdertakings,  and  success  is  certain.  They  who 
shall  be  instrumental  in  its  commencement  and  com- 
pletion will  have  erected  for  themselves  a  monument 
more  durable  than  marble,  and  throughout  all  future 
time  will  receive,  as  they  well  deserve,  the  grateful 
thanks  of  a  generous  people.  I  hope  some  gentle- 
men may  feel  sufficient  interest  in  this  matter  to 
consider  it  maturely  and  give  the  result  of  their 
deliberations  to  the  public  through  the  newspapers. 


It  is  a  great,  magnificent  and  feasible  project.     It 
can,  it  will,  be  accomplished. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 
Sidney  Breese. 

This  able  letter  renewed  the  waning  interest 
in  railroad  matters.  Meetings  were  held 
throughout  the  state,  conventions  pronounced 
in  favor  of  railroad  and  canal  building,  and 
as  a  result  the  files  of  the  legislature  were  lit- 
erally weighed  down  with  bills  and  notices  of 
bills  to  provide  for  railroad  and  canal  con- 
struction. 

Many  opposed  the  enterprise  in  the  central 
part  of  the  state,  because  it  was  seen  that  such 
a  north-and-south  line  would  divert  much  of 
the  traffic  which  that  section  might  derive  from 
a  road  crossing  Illinois  from  east  to  west. 
Some  localities  were  pledged  to  the  support  of 
the  Wabash  &  Mississippi.  The  line  of  road 
as  traced  in  Judge  Breese's  letter  did  not  touch 
Springfield,  and  therefore  was  not  looked  upon 
with  great  favor  by  the  citizens  of  that  place. 
Those  also  who  were  most  ardent  in  their 
support  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  feared 
that  its  construction  would  be  delayed  by  the 
prosecution  of  this  "stupendous  project." 
But  Judge  Breese  never  tired  in  his  efforts  to 
acquaint  the  people  living  along  the  proposed 
route  of  the  road  with  the  advantages  of  this 
central  artery.  He  was  the  prime  agent  in 
obtaining  the  support  of  Senator  Douglas. 
Chicago    also    was    stretching    her   arms    out 

99 


lUnnimsfcctKCiGf  of  Cljicago 

toward  the  South  and  the  West.  "Internal 
improvement"  was  the  cry  of  everyone.  With 
the  meeting-  of  the  legislature  at  Vandalia,  in 
1836,  came  also  the  convention  which  proposed 
wilder  schemes  (for  those  times)  than  the 
"internal  improvement"  act,  wliich  became  a 
law  the  next  year.  And  the  people  and  the 
press  were  with  the  convention,  for,  under  the 
plans  proposed,  there  was  not  a  "cross-road" 
in  the  state  which  would  not  in  some  way  be 
benefited. 

The  first  railroad  chartered  out  of  Chicago, 
upon  which  work  was  immediately  commenced, 
and  which  afterward  became  an  important 
section  of  her  great  transportation  system,  was 
the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  which 
was  chartered  January  16,  1836.  The  docu- 
ment was  prepared  by  Ebcnezcr  Peck  and  T. 
W.  Smith,  w-ith  the  object  of  increasing  the 
value  of  real  estate  at  both  points;  but  Galena 
being  then  the  leading  village  of  the  West, 
obtained  precedence  in  the  naming  of  the  road. 
The  capital  stock  was  placed  at  $100,000,  but 
could  be  increased  to  $1,000,000,  and  the 
incorporators  were  given  the  choice  of  operating 
the  road  by  animal  or  steam  power.  They 
were  allowed  three  years  from  January  16, 
1836,  in  which  to  begin  work.  E.  D.  Taylor, 
Jesse  B.  Thomas,  Jr.,  J.  C.  Goodhue,  Peter 
Temple,  William  Bennett,  Thomas  Drummond 
and  J  .W.  Turner  were  named  as  commissioners 
to  receive  subscriptions.  The  survey  of  the 
100 


fit0t  ilinilroati  J>psftem^ 

road  was  begun  in  February,  1837,  by  Engi- 
neer James  Seymour,  with  his  assistants,  from 
the  foot  of  North  Dearborn  Street,  and  ran 
due  west  to  the  Desplaines  River.  In  June, 
1837,  surveyors  and  laborers  were  discharged. 
In  1838  work  v/as  resumed,  piles  being  driven 
along  the  line  of  Madison  Street  and  stringers 
placed  upon  them.  These  operations  were 
continuedunder  the  directionof  E.  K.  Hubbard, 
until  the  collapse  of  the  enterprise  during  the 
same  year.  The  ambition  of  Chicago  was 
evidently  a  little  ahead  of  her  means,  and  the 
Galena  &  Chicago  Union  had  to  wait  ten  years 
before  it  was  fairly  placed  upon  a  successful 
basis. 

On  January  18,  1836  (two  days  after  the 
incorporation  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union), 
the  Illinois  Central  was  incorporated.  The 
incorporators  numbered  fifty-eight  and  they 
were  empowered  to  construct  a  railroad  from 
a  point  on  the  Ohio  to  a  point  on  the  Illinois, 
near  La  Salle,  with  the  object  of  forming  a 
connection  between  the  canal,  then  projected, 
and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  and  thence 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  But  the  charter  and 
the  fifty-eight  incorporators  failed  to  accom- 
plish anything  in  the  way  of  railroad  building 
and  the  "stupendous  project"  collapsed, 
remaining  in  that  lamentable  condition  until 
revived  by  its  immense  land  grant,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1850. 

Up  to  the  latter  part  of  1 83  7  the  only  road 
101 


i!imimi^cnicc^  of  Cljicago 

in  the  state  which  had  been  made  a  success 
was  the  "Coal  Mine  Bluff  Railroad,"  built  by 
ex-Governor  Reynolds  and  friends,  and  extend- 
ing from  his  coal-fields,  six  miles  from  the 
Mississippi  River,  to  East  St.  Louis.  Among 
other  difficulties  overcome  by  the  energetic 
young  men  was  the  bridging  of  a  lake  over  two 
thousand  feet  across.  The  road  was  worked 
without  iron,  and  with  horse-power,  was  regu- 
larly chartered  in  1 84 1,  and  long  afterward 
became  known  as  the  "Illinois  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad."  Governor  Reynolds'  railroad  is 
claimed  to  be  the  first  one  actually  constructed 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and,  within  the  cir- 
cumstances, he  appropriately  asserts  that  "it 
was  the  greatest  work  or  enterprise  ever  per- 
formed in  Illinois.  But,"  he  adds,  "it  well 
nigh  broke  us  all."  And  the  experience  of 
these  pioneers  with  that  little  six-mile  section 
of  road  was  the  experience  of  hundreds  of 
other  would-be  railroad  builders,  who  made 
more  ambitious  attempts  within  the  next  dozen 
of  years. 

But  the  enthusiasm  and  the  sentiment 
most  prevalent  during  1836-37  are  all  incor- 
porated in  the  "Internal  Improvement  Act" 
of  February  27,  1 837.  The  canal  was  pro- 
gressing; thirteen  hundred  and  forty  miles  of 
railroad  were  to  be  built;  rivers  and  creeks 
were  to  be  rendered  navigable,  and  no  less 
than  $200,000  were  to  be  distributed  throughout 
the  townships  of  the  state,  which  were  doomed 
102 


to  exist  far  away  from  the  line  of  canals, 
railroads  or  navigable  streams.  To  prove  the 
magnificence  of  this  legislative  dream,  the  rail- 
roads were  to  be  begun  at  both  ends  at  the 
same  moment;  so  that  the  Illinoisans  from 
east  and  west  and  from  north  and  south  could 
experience  the  greatest  happiness  in  their 
consciousness  of  the  impartiality  and  wisdom 
of  their  legislature. 

The  act  appropriated  $250,000  to  the  Great 
Western  Railroad  from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis; 
$3,500,000  for  a  railroad  from  Cairo  to  the 
southern  terminus  of  the  canal  and  to  Galena; 
$1,600,000  for  a  "southern  cross  railroad" 
from  Alton  to  Mount  Carmel  and  to  Shawnee- 
town;  $1,850,000  for  a  "northern  cross  rail- 
road" from  Quincy  to  Springfield  and  thence 
to  the  Indiana  line,  in  the  direction  of  La 
Fayette;  $650,000  for  a  branch  of  the  Central 
road,  in  the  direction  of  Terre  Haute;  $700,- 
000  for  a  railroad  from  Peoria  to  Warsaw,  on 
the  Mississippi;  $600,000  from  lower  Alton 
to  the  Central;  $150,000  for  a  railroad  from 
Belleville  to  intersect  the  Alton  and  Mount 
Carmel  line;  $350,000  for  a  railroad  from 
Bloomington  to  Mackinaw,  and  a  branch 
through  Tremont  to  Pekin.  The  total  amount 
appropriated  for  railroad  building  was  $9,650,- 
000.  William  K.  Ackerman,  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  February 
20,  1883,  gives  the  following  extract  from  the 
report  of  Murray  McConnel,  commissioner,  to 
103 


iftmiinijBicaicc^  of  Cljicago 

the  fund  commissioners,  wliich  is  dated  August 
II,  1837:— 

"  'The  kind  of  iron  wanted  is  of  the  width  and 
thickness  that  requires  twenty-two  tons  to  the  mile, 
includingplates, bolts,  etc.  .  .  .  If  you  should  believe 
that  iron  will  decline  in  price  so  that  the  same  may 
be  bought  next  year  for  less  than  at  present,  you 
may  contract  for  the  delivery  of  thirty  miles,  say  six 
hundred  and  sixty  tons  or  thereabouts,  as  we  may 
not  want  to  use  more  than  that  quantity  in  this  dis- 
trict through  the  next  season.  .  .  .  You  will  also 
contract  for  the  building  of  one  locomotive  of  the 
most  improved  plan,  and  a  suitable  number  of  pas- 
senger and  burthen  cars  to  be  shipped  via  New 
Orleans  to  the  house  of  McConnel,  Ormsbce  &  Co., 
Naples,  111.' 

"The  commissioners'  report  to  Governor  Carlin 
of  December  26,  1838,  gives  the  estimated  cost  of 
this  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven  miles  of  road 
(which  covers  only  a  portion  of  the  present  line  of 
the  Illinois  Central)  to  be  §3,809,145,  an  average 
cost  per  mile  of  $8,326.  The  commissioners,  in 
their  report  to  the  governor,  say:  'In  making  these 
estimates  the  board  has  included  all  the  expenditures 
for  superintendence,  engineering,  and  all  other  inci- 
dental expenses.  Easy  grades  have  in  general  been 
adopted,  and  in  all  cases  calculations  have  been 
made  for  the  most  useful  and  durai)le  structures; 
and  the  board  has  no  doubt  but  that  the  works  may 
be  constructed  upon  the  most  approved  plans  at  the 
cost  estimated  upon  each  work.  It  is  believed  that 
in  every  instance  the  lines  may  be  improved,  locations 
changed,  and  improvements  made  in  construction 
that  may  lessen  the  cost  far  below  these  prices.' 
The  same  piece  of  road  has  cost,  properly  built  and 
etiuipped  as  it  stands  to-chiy,  $23,950,450,  or  an 
average  of  $52,408  per  mile.  ...  If  slight  defects 
have  been  found  in  the  law  organizing  the  system, 
or  if  errors  shall  have  been  committed  in  carrying  it 
104 


first  J^iailroati  ^p^'tmi^ 

into  execution,  it  is  what  might  reasonably  have 
been  expected  in  a  system  so  extended.  In  locating 
1,300  miles  of  road  and  performing  other  duties 
equally  difficult,  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise  than 
that  errors  of  judgment  should  occur  and  that  we 
should  be  brought  into  contact  with  private  interests 
and  become  the  unwilling  (though  necessary  and 
unavoidable)  cause  of  disappointment  to  some,  and 
the  prostration  of  splendid  but  visionary  schemes  of 
speculation  in  others." 

Engineer  T.  B.  Ransom,  in  his  report  of 
December  3,  1838,  after  noticing  the  progress 
of  work  upon  the  only  section  of  the  great 
system  ever  completed  by  the  state  (a  portion 
of  the  Northern  Cross  Railroad),  concludes  as 
follows: — 

"Believing  conscientiously  that  the  future  pros- 
perity and  happiness  of  the  people  will  be  greatly 
promoted  by  carrying  out  the  system  to  its  full  and 
entire  completion,  I  am  bound  to  advocate  it  to  the 
extent  of  my  abilities.  So  far  from  its  being  too 
large  and  extended,  I  believe  that  it  might  be  enlarged 
with  great  propriety  and  decided  advantage  to  the 
general  welfare  of  the  whole  state  (if  suitable 
appropriations  were  made  in  addition  to  those  already 
granted  by  the  legislature',  not  only  to  improve  the 
navigation  of  our  rivers,  but  in  connection  with  the 
same  to  drain  the  ponds  and  lakes,  which  can  be 
accomplished  with  an  inconsiderable  expense  in  com- 
parison to  the  general  utility,  health  and  pecuniary 
prosperity  of  the  whole  state.  .  .  .  And  it  appears 
to  me  that  even  at  a  period  when  steamboats  are  in 
full  operation,  the  time  and  risk  of  life  which  could 
be  saved  by  traveling  on  our  roads  would  enable 
them  effectually  to  compete  with  the  river  com- 
munication." 

The  Northern  Cross  Road  from  Meredosia, 
105 


ilimiini^cnicc^  of  €f)icago 

on  the  Illinois  River,  to  Springfield,  was  com- 
pleted in  February,  1842,  the  survey  having 
been  commenced  in  May,  1837.  The  road 
cost  the  state  for  actual  construction  $  i  ,000,000, 
was  operated  for  five  years  at  a  loss,  and  in 
1847  realized  $21,100  in  state  indebtedness. 
The  attempt  to  allay  local  jealousies  by  starting 
the  different  roads  simultaneously  from  each 
terminus  was  one  cause  of  the  collapse  of  the 
stupendous  scheme;  as,  to  do  this,  immediate 
and  large  appropriations  were  required.  The 
result  was  that  in  two  years  from  the  passage 
of  the  act  the  state  was  checkered  with  patches 
of  road  and  had  virtually  nothing  to  show  for 
the  $6,000,000  of  indebtedness,  except  a  soli- 
tary locomotive  running  over  a  few  miles  of 
the  Northern  Cross  Road  from  Meredosia 
eastward.  The  act  which  had  caused  all  this 
mischief  was  repealed  in  1839.  Far  from 
lifting  every  community  into  an  unexampled 
condition  of  prosjierity,  the  operations  of  the 
law  laid  the  basis  of  the  present  debt  of 
the  state,  and  the  formal  abandonment  of 
the  improvements  undoubtedly  retarded  its 
growth. 

Upon  the  suspension  of  operations  on  the 
Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  the  people 
of  the  Rock  River  country  made  several 
attempts  to  avail  themselves  of  Chicago's  in- 
creasingcommercial  importance.  First  a  plank 
road  was  urged  to  be  built  from  Chicago  to 
the  Rock  River,  at  a  cost  of  over  $300,000. 
106 


fit^t  JUailroati  ^p^tem^ 

Next,  in  1843,  a  survey  was  made  between 
Joliet  and  Aurora  for  a  canal  to  connect  the 
Fox  River  with  the  IlHnois  &  Michigan  Canal; 
and  the  suggestion  was  favorably  received  that 
it  would  be  a  plausible  undertaking  to  extend 
the  improvements  to  Rockford.  But  these 
schemes  were  abandoned,  and  in  1846  the 
Chicago  and  Galena  Union  was  revived  by  the 
convention  held  at  Rockford  in  January  of  that 
year.  Delegates  to  the  number  of  three  hun- 
dred and  nineteen  attended  from  all  the  counties 
on  the  proposed  line  between  Galena  and 
Chicago.  The  officers  selected  were:  Presi- 
dent, Thomas  Drummond,  of  Jo  Daviess;  vice- 
presidents,  William  H.  Brown,  of  Cook,  Joel 
Walker,  of  Boone,  Spooner  Ruggles,  of  Ogle, 
and  Elijah  Wilcox,  of  Kane;  secretaries,  T. 
D.  Robertson,  of  Winnebago,  J.  B.  F.  Russell, 
of  Cook,  and  S.  P.  Hyde,  of  McHenry.  A 
resolution  was  adopted  that  the  members  of 
the  convention  obtain  subscriptions  to  the  stock 
of  the  company,  if  satisfactory  arrangements 
could  be  made  with  its  holders;  and  resolutions 
were  also  passed,  presented  by  J.  Young  Scam- 
mon,  showing  the  necessity  of  a  general  sub- 
scription to  the  stock  by  the  farmers  along  the 
proposed  route.  Galena  and  Chicago  vied  with 
each  other  in  the  renewed  enthusiasm  with  which 
the  enterprise  was  taken  up.  But  about  this 
time  Messrs.  Townsend  and  Mather  oifered 
the  improvements,  land,  and  charter  of  the 
road,  to  Chicago  citizens  for  $20,000,  The 
107 


lltcitiini^cnicf^  of  Cljtcago 

offer  was  accepted  under  the  following  condi- 
tions: The  payment  of  the  entire  sum  in  full- 
paid  stock  of  the  company — $10,000  immedi- 
ately after  the  organization  of  the  board  of 
directors,  and  1 10,000  on  the  completion  of 
the  road  to  Rock  River,  or  as  soon  as  a  divi- 
dend of  six  per  cent  would  be  earned.  On 
December  15,  1846,  the  persons  named  above 
subscribed  toward  the  expenses  of  a  survey, 
and  had  one  made  during  the  succeeding  year, 
by  Richard  P.  Morgan.^ 

The  Alton  &  Springfield  road  had  been  com- 
menced the  previous  year,  and  on  February 
2^ ,  1847,  a  charter  was  granted  to  the  Alton 
&  Sangamon  Company,  now  a  portion  of  the 
Chicago  &  Alton  system.  On  the  same  day 
the  Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  line  was  chartered, 
the  nucleus  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  & 
Pacific  Railroad  Company.  The  "Pacific" 
termination  of  the  name  was  early  foreshadowed 
by  the  hopeful,  public-spirited,  and,  as  it 
seemed  to  the  more  conservative,  the  "crazy" 
sentiment  of  the  times.  During  the  legislative 
session  of  1847  the  following  joint  resolution 
was  adopted : — 

1  Richard  P.  Morgan,  who  died  about  two  years 
ago,  was  one  of  the  oldest  civil  engineers  in  the 
United  States,  and  assisted  in  laying  out  many  of 
the  principal  railroads  in  the  Union.  Me  made  the 
experimental  survey  of  the  Galena  Air  Line  road, 
the  first  railway  emanating  from  Chicago.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  over  ninety-two  years  of 
age. 

108 


"Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  the  Senate  concurring  herein,  that 
we  have  seen  and  read  with  pleasure  the  very  inter- 
esting report  of  our  worthy  and  intelligent  Senator 
Breese,  upon  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Whitney,  of 
New  York,  on  the  subject  of  a  railroad  from  Lake 
Michigan  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  heartily  concur 
in  the  sentiments  and  ideas  therein  set  forth. 

"Resolved  further,  that  our  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress  be,  and  they  are  hereby, 
requested  and  instructed  to  use  their  influence  in 
sustaining  the  propositions  of  Mr.  Whitney,  which 
have  been  submitted  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  for  a  railroad  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

"Resolved,  that  a  copy  of  the  above  resolutions 
be  transmitted  by  the  Governor  of  this  State  to  each 
of  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress." 

Subscription  books  were  opened  at  settle- 
ments along  the  proposed  line  of  the  Galena  & 
Chicago  Union.  August  lO,  1847,  William 
B.  Ogden  and  J.  Young  Scammon  solicited 
subscriptions  in  the  city,  but  could  only  obtain 
promises  for  $20,000  from  all  the  real  estate 
men  or  others  particularly  interested.  Some 
merchants  opposed  the  scheme,  fearing  it 
would  take  the  sale  of  goods  from  Chicago  to 
points  on  the  line  of  the  road.  Up  to  April  I, 
1848,  twelve  hundred  and  six  subscribers 
guaranteed  $351,800,  on  which  sum  payments 
amounting  to  $20,817.68  were  made  up  to 
that  date.  Outside  the  city  there  was  scarcely 
any  money,  and  the  payment  for  subscriptions 
beyond  the  first  instalment  of  two  and  one 
half  per  cent  had  to  depend  upon  future  crops. 
109 


Jltemmi^cmcc^  of  €l)icago 

The  people  subscribed  as  liberally  as  their 
limited  means  would  permit,  and  succeeded  in 
raising  a  fair  amount.  Railroad  meetings  were 
not  frequent  in  those  days,  the  settlers  residing 
so  far  apart  that  they  could  not  assemble  on 
short  notice,  and  those  interested  in  placing 
the  stock  were  obliged  to  travel  the  county  to 
secure  its  taking.  In  many  settlements  the 
residents  were  found  willing  to  co-operate,  the 
ladies  vieing  with  the  men  in  their  readiness 
to  render  assistance.  They  appreciated  how 
necessary  it  was  to  have  the  road  built,  and 
were  prepared  to  make  any  personal  sacrifice 
to  further  the  undertaking.  Many  of  them 
helped  to  pay  for  the  stock  subscribed  for  at 
their  solicitation  from  the  profits  derived  from 
the  sale  of  butter,  cheese,  and  other  household 
productions,  even  depriving  themselves  of  the 
means  required  to  educate  their  children,  that 
a  railroad  might  be  built  for  the  good  of  that 
and  future  generations. 

In  the  first  annual  report  of  the  Galena  & 
Chicago  Union  Railroad  Company,  dated  April 
5,  1848,  William  B.  Ogden,  the  president, 
said: — 

"The  Michigan  Central  Railroad  Company  de- 
cided to  terminate  their  road  at  New  Buffalo  in  July 
last,  and  steps  were  taken  preparing  the  way  for  an 
extension  of  their  road  to  Chicago  about  the  same 
time.  Upon  this,  your  directors  proceeded  at  once 
to  announce  their  intention  of  opening  books  of 
subscription  to  stock,  for  extension  of  this  continous 
line  of  railroad  from  Chicago  westward  to  Galena. 


Books  were  accordingly  opened  at  Chicago  and 
Galena,  and  at  the  towns  intermediate,  on  the  loth 
day  of  August  last  and  about  $250,000  of  stock  were 
then  subscribed.  The  first  expectation  of  the  board 
was  to  obtain  a  general  subscription  from  the  citizens 
of  northern  Illinois  and  southern  Wisconsin  resid- 
ing along  the  line  of  the  contemplated  road  and  in 
its  vicinity,  as  indicative  of  their  faith  in  the  profit- 
able character  of  the  roads  when  constructed,  and 
of  the  general  interest  of  the  people  in  its  construc- 
tion; and  with  the  aid  of  this  subscription,  to  open 
negotiations  with  and  solicit  other  subscriptions  or 
loans  from  Eastern  capitalists,  sufficient  in  amount 
to  justify  the  commencement  of  the  work.  The 
amount  subscribed,  however,  on  the  opening  of  the 
books,  was  so  liberal,  and  the  feeling  manifested 
along  the  line  so  ardent  and  so  universal,  that  it  was 
quite  apparent  the  country  and  the  people  immedi- 
ately interested  in  the  construction  of  the  road, 
were  able  to,  and  would,  increase  their  subscriptions 
to  an  amount  sufficient,  in  connection  with  the  credits 
on  iron  and  engines  then  offered  us,  to  build  the 
road  from  Chicago  to  Elgin  at  once,  and  own  it 
ourselves.  Experienced  parties  at  the  East,  largely 
interested  in  railroad  stock,  and  decidedly  friendly 
to  the  success  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  road, 
were  consulted  and  made  acquainted  with  the  par- 
ticulars of  our  position  at  this  juncture,  and  with 
the  proposed  plan  of  obtaining  the  additional  means 
at  the  East  necessary  to  secure  completion  of  the 
road  to  Fox  River.  They  were  clearly  and  decidedly 
of  the  opinion  that  the  wisest  and  surest  way  to 
accomplish  the  speedy  extension  and  completion  of 
the  entire  route  to  Galena  was  for  the  inhabitants 
along  the  line  of  the  road  to  raise  means  themselves 
for  its  commencement  and  completion  to  the  Fox 
River  and  Elgin,  forty-one  miles,  when  there  was 
everything  to  assure  us  that  the  comparatively  small 
cost  of  construction  and  extreme  productiveness  of 
the  country  tributary  to  the  road  would  secure  such 
III 


iHrttiini^cnice^  of  Cifjicago 

large  returns  as  would  enable  us  to  command  capital 
from  any  quarter,  or  loans  or  increased  subscriptions 
to  stock  for  the  extension  of  the  road  to  Rock  Island, 
and  to  Galena,  without  delay.  This  course  was 
adopted,  the  object  explained  and  approved  by  sub- 
scribers, and  further  subscriptions  solicited  and 
obtained  on  this  basis  of  operation,  to  an  extent 
exceeding  altogether  the  sum  of  $350,000  (^about 
$10,000  of  stock  subscriptions  have  since  been  added) 
and  the  work  was  commenced  in  earnest.  A  corps 
of  engineers  was  then  (September  last)  immediately 
employed  to  survey  and  locate  the  line  from  Chicago 
to  the  Fox  River,  and  prepare  it  for  letting.  The 
time  occupied  in  doing  so  has  somewhat  exceeded 
what  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  necessary,  and  the 
road,  except  the  first  seven  miles,  was  not  prepared  for 
letting  until  the  first  of  March  last,  when  the  grading 
and  bridging  of  the  first  thirty-two  miles  (inclusive 
grading  of  the  seven  miles  let  last  fall)  was  put 
under  contract,  and  on  very  favorable  terms,  as 
will  appear  by  reference  to  the  report  of  the  chief 
engineer." 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  amended  charter 
of  February,  1847,  the  owners  of  stock  met 
April  5,  1848,  and  elected  the  following  named 
directors:  Williani  B.  Odgen,  president; 
Walter  L.  Newberry,  Charles  Walker,  James 
H.  Collins,  J.  Young  Scammon,  William  H. 
Brown,  John  B.  Turner,  Thoinas  Dyer,  Ben- 
jamin W.  Raymond,  George  Smith,  all  of 
Chicago;  Charles  S.  Hempstead  and  Thomas 
Drummond,  of  Galena;  Allen  Robbins,  of  New 
York.  Francis  Howe  was  chosen  secretary 
and  Treasurer.  Thomas  D.  Robertson,  of 
Rockford,  was  elected  director  I'ice  Allen 
Robbins,  resigned,  \n  April,  1849;  Dexter  A. 
112 


Knowlton,  of  Freeport ,  I'ice  J .  Young  Scammon, 
resigned  in  1850. 

The  early  canvassing  along  the  proposed 
line  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad 
for  subscriptions  toward  building  the  road  was 
made  by  Messrs.  Ogden  and  Scammon,  who 
traveled  the  whole  distance  from  Chicago  to 
Galena  for  this  purpose,  holding  meetings  and 
obtaining  subscriptions  at  all  considerable 
places  on  the  route.  Subsequently  Charles 
Walker,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  John  Locke  Scripps, 
John  B.  Turner,  and  others  canvassed  at 
points  on  the  line  of  the  road.  B.  W. 
Raymond  and  John  B.  Turner  visited  the  East 
in  1848,  with  the  object  of  securing  subscrip- 
tions to  the  stock.  Their  efforts  resulted  in 
the  sale  of  $15,000  of  stock,  and  a  loan  of 
$7,000.  This  money  completed  the  road 
across  the  marsh  to  the  foot  of  Chicago  Hill. 
Again  they  purchased  two  locomotives  from 
the  Baldwin  works.  In  the  meantime,  Mr. 
Odgen,  then  a  member  of  the  common  council, 
had  introduced  an  ordinance  into  that  body, 
which  was  voted  down,  proposing  to  grant  the 
right  of  way  to  the  road  from  the  west  into 
the  city  on  a  line  with  Kinzie  Street,  with  the 
necessary  privileges  for  constructing  tracks, 
drawbridges,  and  depots;  notwithstanding 
which,  the  contract  for  the  first  thirty-two 
miles  of  road  from  Chicago  was  let  March  i, 
1848.  the  first  sixteen  miles  to  be  finished  by 
August  I,  and  the  balance  by  October  i,  1848. 

"3 


Jlimiini^ccncc^  of  €l)icago 

John  Van  Nortwick  had  been  appointed 
engineer.  George  W.  Waite,  assistant  engi- 
neer, drove  the  first  grade-peg,  near  the  corner 
of  Kinzie  and  Halsted  streets,  in  June,  1848, 
then  a  point  outside  the  city  limits.  The 
council  had  refused  the  entrance  of  the  road 
into  the  city,  but  granted  leave  to  build  a  tem- 
porary track  east  to  the  river  so  that  one  of 
the  two  engines  could  be  brought  to  the  head 
of  the  road. 

In  September  the  management  purchased  a 
locomotive  of  the  Tonawanda  (N.  Y.)  Com- 
pany, and  also  one  of  the  Auburn  &  Syracuse 
Company.  These  were  fitted  up  with  new 
gearing  and  boilers,  and  the  first  one  was 
placed  on  the  section  between  Chicago  and  the 
Desplaines  River,  in  November.  The  "Pioneer" 
arrived  on  the  brig  Buffalo  October  10,  1848. 
The  engine  was  taken  off  the  boat  on  Sunday 
by  Redinond  Prindeville,  Wells  Lake,  George 
W.  Waite,  George  C.  Morgan  and  John  Ebert, 
the  engineer.  This  engine  was  sold  by  the 
Baldwin  Company  on  commission  for  the 
Rochester  &  Tonawanda  Railroad  Company. 
It  served  its  purpose  well  and  is  in  existence 
to-day,  as  if  waiting  some  signal  act  of  public 
approbation. 

When  the  Desplaines  River  division  was  in 
working  order,  the  rolling  stock  consisted  of 
six  old  freight  cars  and  the  "Pioneer."  By 
November  21st  the  engine  was  running  daily 
on  the  ten  miles  of  completed  road,  west  of 
114 


fit^t  i^ailroati  M>v^ttm0 

Chicago,  conveying  materials  and  laborers  to 
carry  on  the  work.  The  clay  previous  Chicago 
received  the  first  wheat  ever  transported  by 
rail.  Upon  the  invitation  of  the  board  of 
directors,  a  number  of  stockholders  and  editors 
of  the  city  took  a  "flying  trip"  over  Chicago's 
system  of  railways,  then  extending  ten  miles 
west  to  the  Desplaines  River!  A  couple  of 
baggage  wagons  had  been  provided  with  seats, 
and  at  about  four  o'clock  p.  m.  the  train,  bear- 
ing away  about  one  hundred  persons,  moved 
from  the  foot  of  North  Dearborn  Street,  where 
a  crowd  had  collected  to  witness  the  novel 
spectacle.  On  the  return  trip  a  load  of  wheat 
was  transferred  from  a  farmer's  wagon  to  one 
of  the  cars,  and  this  was  the  first  grain  trans- 
ported by  rail  to  Chicago.  This  fact  soon 
became  known  to  the  farmers  living  west  of 
the  city,  and  the  company  made  arrangements 
to  accommodate  the  expected  increase  of  their 
business.  They  at  once  placed  covered  cars 
upon  the  track,  and  about  a  week  after  the  line 
was  open  to  travel  the  business  men  of  Chicago 
were  electrified  by  the  announcement  that  over 
thirty  loads  of  wheat  were  at  the  Desplaines 
River  waiting  to  be  transported  to  the  city. 
The  expected  receipts  of  the  road  would 
amount  to  $15  per  day  for  the  winter,  and 
wheat-buyers  were  informed  (partly  with  a 
view  of  increasing  the  passenger  traffic)  that 
they  must  now  take  their  stations  at  the 
Desplaines  River  instead  of  at  Randolph  Street 

115 


Jflcmini^cnicc^  of  Cljicago 

Bridge.  Facts  and  statistics  were  pouring  in 
from  Galena  also,  showing  the  benefits  that 
would  accrue  when  the  line  should  reach  that 
flourishing  city.  For  instance,  in  January, 
1849,  the  public  was  informed  that  the  arrivals 
in   Galena   from   March    17   to   December    6, 

1848,  were:  Keel-boats,  158;  fiat-boats,  107; 
that  the  revenue  was  $1,950,  and  the  value  of 
the  exports  for  1848  was  §1,602,050.40. 
Furthermore  that  "a  large  portion  of  these  will 
seek  an  eastern  market  by  railroad."  The 
citizens  of  Galena  were  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  Chicago  in  the  building  of  this  road,  but 
rumors  were  soon  afloat  that  there  was  a  dis- 
position in  certain  quarters  to  cut  off  that 
thriving  town  from  the  benefits  of  the  road 
which  she  was  doing  so  much  to  build.  To 
allay  these  suspicions,  at  the  annual  meeting 
held  April  5,  1 849,  the  stockholders  resolved 
that  Galena  was  the  true  terminus  of  the  road 
and  that  "any  diversion  would  be  in  violation 
of  good  faith,  a  fraud  on  the  stockholders  and 
an  illegal  perversion  of  the  charter."  Of  the 
$150,000  loan,  authorized  in  May,  1848,  to  be 
negotiated,  $71,700  had  then  been  expended. 

Henry  W.  Clarke,  DeWitt  Lane,  now  of 
Lane's  Island,  and  Major  James  Mulford,  were 
the  commissioners  ap|X)inted  to  procure  the 
right  of  way  for  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union 
Railroad,  and  to  assess  damages  within  Cook 
County.      This  work  was  undertaken  in  March, 

1849.  The  commissioners  were  accompanied 

116 


fix^t  Railroad  ^^^tem^ 

by  William  B.  Oclgen,  John  B,  Turner,  John  Van 
Nortwick,  engineer,  James  H.  Rees,  "Ogden's 
own  surveyor,"  and  a  few  others.  When  the 
party  reached  Harlem,  then  called  Oak  Ridge, 
the  commissioners  agreed  that  the  assessment 
of  damages  for  right  of  way  should  be  merely 
nominal,  and  from  this  agreement  resulted  the 
offer  of  six  cents  to  each  land-owner  along  the 
route.  This  offer  was  accepted  without  dis- 
sent, quit-claim  deeds  were  made  to  the  com- 
pany, and  the  roadway  was  secured. 

The  inner  history  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago 
Union  Railroad  is  most  valuable,  for  the  reason 
that  it  goes  into  such  details  as  are  not 
generally  given  in  annual  reports.  Such  facts  as 
a  reminiscence  could  only  contain  have  been 
fortunately  noted  down  by  one  who  was  himself 
a  most  important  pillar  of  Chicago  enterprise. 
In  J.  Young  Scammon's  biography  of  William 
B.  Ogden,  this  history  appears  to  be  well  and 
impartially  treated;  and,  therefore,  in  justice 
to  the  men  named,  is  here  given  so  much  of 
that  sketch  as  relates  to  this  road  and  its 
builders. 1 

"In  the  winter  of  1846  a  convention  was  held  at 
Rockford,  the  half-way  house  between  Chicago  and 
Galena,  to  favor  the  work.  There  was  a  large 
meeting,  attended  by  persons  from  Galena  to  Chicago. 
Thomas  Drummond,  then  residing  at  Galena,  presided 
over  the  assembly.  The  late  William  H.  Brown, 
always  a  director  and  subsequently  a  president  of  the 
Galena    Company  and    of    the    Chicago    Historical 

1  Fergus's  Series,  Biography  of  William  B.  Odgen. 
117 


iHmimt^ccncf^  of  €l)tcago 

Society,  with  Benjamin  W.  Raymond,  our  ever  public- 
spirited  citizen,  and  more  than  once  mayor  of  the  city, 
and  a  director  of  the  road  till  it  merged  in  the  North- 
western, and  who  still  remains  among  us  to  witness  and 
rejoice  with  others  over  the  success  of  his  faithful 
public  efforts,  was  among  the  active  men  there.  Isaac 
N.  Arnold,  so  long  and  favorably  known  in  the  politics 
of  Illinois,  and  as  a  representative  in  the  late  War 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  long  a  leader  at  the 
Chicago  bar,  now  president  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society  and  devoting  the  calm  of  mature  years  to 
literary  work,  with  General  Hart  L.  Stewart,  one  of 
Chicago's  oldest  citizens,  whose  whole  life  has  been 
spent  in  building  public  works  west  of  Lake  Erie,  in 
Michigan,  upon  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  and 
elsewhere,  and  in  the  public  councils  of  the  state  or 
official  positions  under  the  government, —  rode  in  the 
same  carriage  with  the  writer,  and  were  active  partici- 
pants in  the  work  of  the  convention,  as  was  Thomas 
D.  Robertson,  of  Rockford,  for  many  years  a  director 
of  the  road.  We  were  two  days  on  our  journey  each 
way,  spending  the  night  at  Elgin,  then  a  little  hamlet. 
The  landlord  there  told  us  that  he  was  against  rail- 
roads. They  were  bad  things  for  farmers  and  hotel- 
keepers,  but  good  for  'big  fellows  at  the  ends  of  the 
road.'  He  'intended  to  make  money  while  the 
road  was  building  and  then  sell  out  and  go  beyond 
them.'  He  declared  that  Elgin  would  cease  to  be 
a  place  of  business  as  soon  as  the  railroad  went 
beyond  it. 

"The  meeting  was  harmonious  and  quite  unan- 
imous in  its  action,  the  only  exception  being  a 
tavern-keeper  at  Marengo,  who,  fearing  that  his  busi- 
ness would  be  injured  by  the  road,  appeared  with 
his  friends  in  the  convention  and  denounced  railroads 
as  'undemocratic,  aristocratic  institutions  that  would 
ride  rough-shod  over  the  people  and  grind  them  to 
powder.  The  only  roads,'  said  he,  'that  the  people 
want  are  good  common  or  plank  roads,  upon  which 
everybody  can  travel.' 

ii8 


"In  the  fall  of  1847,  Mr.  Ogden  and  the  writer 
traveled  the  entire  distance  from  Chicago  to  Galena 
together,  stopping  at  all  the  principal  intermediate 
places,  making  speeches  for  the  road,  and  going  into 
the  highways  to  compel  men  to  come  in  and  help  the 
enterprise,  even  if  they  could  not  take  more  than  a 
single  share  of  stock.  Many  farmers  and  other 
persons,  be  it  said  to  their  credit,  did  come  forward 
and  subscribe,  though  they  had  to  borrow  the  first 
instalment  of  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  on  a  share 
and  get  trusted  "till  after  harvest"  for  the  same. 
Mr.  Ogden  was  in  his  element  in  such  enterprises. 
His  go-aheadativeness  here  gave  full  play  to  his 
imagination,  and  filled  not  only  himself,  but  his 
hearers,  with  high  hopes  and  general  courage.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  it  cost  five  bushels  of  wheat, 
and  often  from  four  days'  to  a  week's  journey  to 
Chicago  with  a  load  of  grain  to  get  the  first  instal- 
ment of  a  single  or  a  few  shares  of  stock,  none  can 
doubt  the  public  interest  in  the  enterprise. 

"At  Galena,  business  men  and  bankers  were  fearful 
of  the  effect  of  the  railroad  upon  their  town.  Among 
its  chief  advocates  there  were  Judge  Drummond,  C. 
M.  Hempstead,  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  and  Thomas 
Hoyne.  Galena  had  long  been  a  very  prosperous 
town  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  Fever  River,  and 
the  great  lead  mining  center  and  mercantile  distrib- 
utor for  northwest  Illinois  and  southwest  Wisconsin, 
and  the  country  north  in  the  mines.  The  great 
obstacles  we  met  there  were  two;  one,  the  local  effect 
upon  the  town,  and  the  other,  the  fear  that  before  the 
road  should  be  completed  the  enterprise  would  break 
down,  the  small  stockholders  sacrificed,  and  the  road 
pass  into  the  hands  of  the  large  capitalists.  We  had 
to  meet  these  objections  by  the  promise  to  respect 
and  protect  the  local  interests  of  Galena,  to  whose 
capital  we  were  much  indebted  in  starting  the  work, 
and  a  pledge  that  until  the  stock  rose  to  par,  and  was 
salable  at  that  price,  we  would  never  allow  the  work 
to  proceed  faster  than  its  ready  means  would  justify 
119 


itcmim.sccncc0  of  Cljicago 

without  endangering  the  capital  invested.  This 
promise  was  faithfully  kept  so  long  as  these  two 
persons  remained  in  the  directory.  It  has  been  said, 
in  justification  of  the  abandoning  of  the  west  end  of 
the  line  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  that  Galena 
was  doomed,  and  a  different  course  could  not  have 
saved  it.  The  writer  dissents  from  this  proposi- 
tion, and  believes  that  if  the  pledges  Mr.  Odgen  and 
he  made  at  Galena  had  been  faithfully,  energeti- 
cally, and  courageously  carried  out,  Galena  would 
have  been  greatly  benefited,  and  its  importance  and 
business  permanently  advanced.  But  whether  this 
opinion  be  correct  or  not.  Galena  was  a  pioneer  in 
the  work,  and  the  company  had  no  right  to  sell  her 
birthright  to  the  Illinois  Central  Company.  It  would 
not  have  been  done  had  the  two  most  active  directors, 
who  were  among  the  largest  subscribers  to  the  stock 
when  the  company  was  re-organized  in  the  writer's 
office  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Lake  and  Clark 
streets,  in  the  old  Saloon  Building,  in  the  city  of 
Chicago  in  1847,  remained  in  their  position  in  its 
management. 

"In  a  paper  read  before  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society,  by  Mr.  Arnold,  December  20,  1881,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  presentation,  by  Mrs.  Ogden,  of  a 
portrait  of  her  late  husband,  it  is  said  'the  officers 
of  the  road,  after  he  (Mr.  Ogden)  had  been  compelled 
to  retire,  had  received  a  public  dinner  (I  think  at 
Elgin)  in  which  they  drank  toasts  to  each  other  and 
everybody  except  Mr.  Ogden.  The  omission  of  his 
name,  the  man  who  everyone  knew  had  built  the 
road,  only  made  him  the  more  prominent.'  If  such 
an  occasion  took  place,  the  occasion  must  have  been 
more  marked  by  the  absence  of  the  original  and 
most  efficient  projectors  of  the  road  than  their 
presence.  There  were  officers  of  the  road  that  were 
engaged  in  speculating  along  its  line,  as  was  con- 
fessed some  years  later,  when  one  of  them  was 
made  a  scapegoat.  Public  allusion  having  been 
thus  made  to  these  personal  troubles  in  the  board 
120 


f  ir^t  Jitailroati  «f>pi^tcm^ 

of  directors,  it  becomes  proper  to  explain  the  same 
somewhat,  as  in  doing  so  a  trait  in  Mr.  Ogden's 
character  and  conduct  presents  him  in  a  very  bold 
and  advantageous  relief,  when  compared  with  that 
of  some  of  his  associates.  Chicago  at  that  time 
was  a  comparatively  small  and  very  ambitious  city. 
It  had  three  divisions,  occasioned  by  the  river  and 
its  North  and  South  branches,  which  run  almost  at 
right  angles  with  the  main  river,  leaving  east  of 
them  the  North  and  South  divisions,  and  west  of 
them  the  West  division,  extending  the  whole  length 
of  the  city.  Such  divisions  always  create  local 
jealousies,  and  the  selfish  interests  excited  are  often 
difficult  to  manage  or  control.  Mr.  Ogden  resided 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  as  did  three  other 
directors,  Walter  L.  Newberry,  Thomas  Dyer  and 
John  B.  Turner.  Two,  Thomas  Drummond  and 
Charles  M.  Hempstead,  lived  in  Galena,  and  one, 
Thomas  D.  Robertson,  in  Rockford,  while  the  five 
others,  Benjamin  W.  Raymond,  George  Smith, 
Charles  Walker,  James  H.  Collins,  and  J.  Young 
Scammon,  lived  in  the  South  Division,  which  was 
then,  as  now,  the  principal  business  and  commercial 
portion  of  the  town.  Mr.  Ogden,  being  especially 
identified  with  the  North  Side,  could  not  exercise  as 
much  influence  in  obtaining  subscriptions  to  stock 
in  the  business  portion  of  town  as  some  of  the  South 
Side  directors,  as  he  was  accused  by  those  who 
never  suppose  other  than  solely  selfish  motives  can 
influence  action,  of  'wanting  to  build  a  railroad  that 
would  never  pay,  to  help  him  sell  his  lots.'  The 
gentlemen  on  the  North  Side  naturally  desired  the 
road  to  cross  the  North  Branch,  and  locate  its 
depots  or  stations  in  the  North  Division;  while  the 
West  Siders  could  see  no  necessity  of  expending 
money  to  cross  the  river,  because  the  West  Side 
was  the  largest  division  of  the  city  and  the  nearest 
to  the  country.  In  the  railroad  work,  either  because 
Ogden  and  Scammon  had  more  time  to  devote  to  it, 
or  for  some  other  reason,  they  became  the  specially 
121 


i^eminisftcncci^  of  Cijicago 

active  representatives  of  the  road  on  their  respective 
sides  of  the  river.  Tlie  out-of-town  directors  could 
rarely  attend  its  meetings,  or  only  when  very  impor- 
tant questions  demanded  their  presence.  These  two 
men  gave  very  much  of  their  time  to  the  enterprise, 
Mr.  Ogden  receiving  a  small  salary  in  stock,  and  the 
writer  no  compensation,  except  for  legal  services 
when  required  by  the  board.  Ogden  and  Scammon 
traveled  over  the  country  together,  visited  Albany 
and  Boston  in  the  interests  of  the  road  in  company 
with  the  late  Erastus  Corning,  then  president  of  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad  and  the  controlling 
spirit  in  the  Michigan  Central,  the  only  road  then  in 
operation  west  of  Lake  Erie.  They  hoped  to  interest 
the  Boston  gentlemen  who  were  stockholders  in  and 
engaged  in  extending  the  Michigan  Central  to  aid  in 
building  the  Galena.  They  called  upon  the  Michigan 
Central  directors,  and  especially  upon  William  F. 
Weld,  an  iron  merchant  in  Boston,  who  had  then 
the  reputation  of  being  'the  Railroad  King.'  They 
were  very  kindly  received  and  entertained  by  John 
M.  Forbes,  then  a  director  of  the  Michigan  Central 
and  a  wealthy  East  India  merchant,  and  long  since 
identified  with  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy 
road,  and  one  of  its  principal  stockholders.  Mr. 
Weld  said  to  us:  'Gentlemen,  I  do  not  remember 
any  enterprise  of  this  kind  we  Boston  people  have 
taken  hold  of  upon  statistics.  You  must  go  home, 
raise  what  money  you  can,  expend  it  upon  your  road, 
and  when  it  breaks  down,  as  it  surely  or  in  all 
probability  will,  come  and  give  it  to  us  and  we  will 
take  hold  of  it  and  complete  it,  as  we  are  complet- 
ing the  Michigan  Central.'  A  resolution  was  then 
formed,  though  not  publicly  expressed,  that  the 
Galena  should  not  break  down.  We  came  home, 
sought  and  obtained  subscriptions  to  the  stock  of 
the  road  upon  the  pledge  that  the  stock  should 
never  be  endangered  until  it  rose  to  par,  and  the 
holders  had  an  opportunity  of  selling  their  shares  at 
that  price.     This  pledge  was  kept. 


"An  opportunity  occurred,  as  we  were  commen- 
cing the  work,  of  buying  the  old  strap  rail  which  was 
being  removed  from  the  Rochester  &  Canandaigua 
road,  to  be  replaced  with  T  iron,  together  with  two 
little  second-hand  passenger  cars  and  two  like 
engines,  for  $150,000,  on  a  credit  of  five  years,  if 
the  writer  recollects  correctly,  provided  two  of  the 
directors  would  endorse  the  bonds.  This  would 
require  each  of  the  thirteen  directors  to  make  him- 
self responsible  for  a  little  over  one  sixth  part  of 
that  sum  as  guarantee  of  the  Galena  company. 
There  was  one  director  who  said  'he  never  endorsed 
other  people's  paper,'  and  declined  to  do  so,  although 
he  was  subsequently  made  president  and  claimed 
credit  for  building  the  road,  with  what  propriety  and 
how  justly,  in  comparison  with  the  endorsers,  let 
others  judge.  All  the  others  made  the  requisite 
endorsement,  with  the  understanding  that  we  were 
to  stick  together  and  re-elect  the  old  board  until 
these  bonds  should  be  paid.  We  went  ahead  with 
the  road  and  had  got  out  west  nine  or  ten  miles, 
across  the  wet  prairie,  to  the  sand  ridge,  where  the 
teams  from  the  country  met  us,  and  transferred 
their  loads  to  the  cars,  making  the  road  pay  as  soon 
as  the  first  section  was  completed.  We  were  so 
encouraged  that  we  thought  there  ought  to  be  no 
doubt  about  raising  money  to  push  the  work.  Mr. 
Ogden,  as  president,  had  boldly  made  some  con- 
tracts with  McCagg,  Reed  &  Co.,  and  others,  for 
ties  and  lumber,  based  upon  expectations  of  raising 
money  in  New  York  or  at  the  East.  A  committee, 
consisting  perhaps  of  Messers.  Ogden  and  Raymond, 
went  to  the  East  for  that  purpose.  They  returned 
unsuccessful.  A  meeting  of  the  directors  was 
called.  It  looked  blue.  To  go  ahead  would  en- 
danger the  stock.  To  stop  entirely  would  be  a 
fulfillment  of  the  Railroad  King's  prophecy.  Mr. 
Ogden  was  embarrassed.  He  knew  that  many  of 
the  public  had  no  faith  in  the  railroad,  and  believed 
it  to  be,  on  his  part,  an  undertaking  to  aid  him  in 
123 


illLcmini^ccnce^  of  €ijicago 

selling  his  town  lots,  they  saying  that  he  could  well 
afford  to  lose  his  stock  if  it  would  help  him  to  sell 
his  land.  Most  of  the  other  directors  were  fearful. 
Mr.  Raymond  was  hopeful,  and  Walker,  Collins,  and 
Scammon,  courageous.  The  latter  said  he  believed 
arrangements  would  be  made  to  defer  or  extend  the 
contracts,  and  to  bridge  over  the  time  till  the  instal- 
ments on  the  stock  that  would  be  paid  after  the 
harvest  should  be  realized,  when  the  work  on  the 
road  could  proceed  slowly,  yet  successfully.  Mr. 
Dyer,  who  then  owned  the  Lake  House  in  the  North 
Division,  and  was  very  anxious  that  the  work  should 
go  on  and  the  road  be  extended  to  the  lake,  so  as 
to  benefit  his  property,  lost  faith.  The  writer  called 
him  'a  doubting  Thomas.'  He  replied,  'If  Mr. 
Scammon  has  so  much  faith  in  the  road,  I  move 
that  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed,  with  full 
power  to  do  anything  they  deem  expedient,  in  regard 
to  the  road,  and  that  Mr.  Scammon  be  chairman  of 
that  committee,  and  be  authorized  to  appoint  his 
associates.'  This  was  agreed  to,  and  a  committee, 
consisting  of  Mr.  Scammon,  James  H.  Collins, 
Charles  Walker,  Thomas  Dyer,  and  Mr.  Raymond, 
appointed  to  have  charge  of  the  subject.  This 
committee  gave  the  writer  larte  hlajichr.  He  im- 
mediately applied  to  George  Smith,  the  only  banker 
in  the  place  who  could  make  such  a  loan,  for  $20,000 
for  six  months,  to  enable  him  to  go  on  with  the 
road.  Mr.  Smith  declined,  though  director  of  the 
road,  and  desirous  of  seeing  it  completed.  He  was 
asked  why — if  he  had  not  the  money.'  He  replied, 
'Yes,  but  I  do  not  wish  to  lose  it.  I  have  no  con- 
fidence in  the  road.'  Mr.  S.  rejoined,  'Don't  you 
think  I  can  build  the  road  to  Elgin  with  the  $363,000 
stock  subscriptions  we  have  of  farmers,  which  are 
good  and  sure  to  be  paid.''  He  answered,  'Yes, 
but  you  are  not  the  president  of  the  road.'  Mr. 
Scammon  rejoined,  'Don't  you  think  Mr.  Ogden 
can.-"  Mr.  Smith  said,  'He  can,  but  he  won't,' 
adding,  'Mr.  Scammon,  I  will  lend  you  the  money.' 
124 


The  writer  replied,  'Make  out  your  note,  and  let  me 
have  it.'  He  did  so,  and  the  money  was  taken  and 
placed  in  the  treasury  of  the  company,  no  other 
person  in  the  road,  except  those  connected  with  the 
loan,  knowing  from  whence  it  came,  except  the 
treasurer,  the  late  Frank  Howe.  This,  with  arrange- 
ments that  were  made  for  extending  contracts, 
enabled  the  road  to  meet  its  engagements,  and 
prevented  any  suspension  of  work  thereon.  The 
road  was  pushed  and  completed  to  Elgin.  It  did  not 
cost  much  money  in  those  days  to  build  a  flat  rail- 
road on  mostly  level  land.  Yet  to  obtain  the  small 
amount  necessary  required,  at  that  time,  more 
courage  and  perseverance  than  is  now  requisite  to 
build  a  road  across  the  continent.  The  careful 
economy  exercised  in  the  building  of  this  forty 
miles  was  nevertheless  very  conspicuous.  We  had 
money  enough  only  to  build  the  track  with  very  few 
accessories.  It  was  a  single  straight  line,  hardly 
more.  Station  houses,  sidings,  turn-outs  and  turn- 
tables had  to  be,  for  the  most  part,  deferred  to  the 
future. 

"An  incident  occurs  to  the  writer  which  may  be 
worth  recalling.  Upon  the  completion  of  the  road 
to  Elgin,  a  general  invitation  was  given  for  an 
excursion  over  the  forty  miles  between  Chicago  and 
that  place.  Among  the  party  was  an  Irish  engineer, 
who  had  published,  in  Dublin,  a  work  on  railroad 
engineering,  which  he  had  with  him  in  bright  red 
binding.  On  alighting  from  the  cars  in  Chicago,  on 
our  return,  the  writer  asked  him  what  he  thought  of 
our  road.  He  replied,  'If  it  is  the  engineering  you're 
asking  about,  I  don't  think  anything  of  it.  We 
would  spend  more  in  the  old  country  upon  the 
engineering  of  a  single  mile  than  you  have  spent 
upon  your  entire  roaci.' 

"In  the  meantime  rivalries  between  the  west  and 

north  sides  of  the  river  had  sprung  up,  and  some  of 

the  North  Side  directors  became  suspicious  that  Mr. 

Ogden  did  not  want  to  extend  the  road  across  the 

125 


Jltcmmt^cnicc^  of  oniicago 

North  Branch  into  the  North  Division,  because  his 
greater  interest  was  on  the  West  Side.  The  tem- 
porary depot  was  then  there.  Some  of  the  directors 
proposed  to  the  writer  to  accept  the  presidency  of 
the  road.  Upon  this  being  decHned,  it  was  proposed 
to  make  him  treasurer  and  financial  agent.  This 
was  also  declined,  for  the  reason  that  it  would  too 
much  interfere  with  professional  work,  which  the 
writer  was  unwilling  to  give  up.  Meanwhile,  certain 
officers  of  the  road  had  been  busy  misrepresenting 
Mr.  Ogden's  actions  and  intentions  to  Mr.  Scammon 
and  Mr.  Scammon's  to  Mr.  Ogden,  until  the  latter 
was  led  to  believe  that  there  was  a  conspiracy  to 
turn  him  out  of  the  presidency  and  elect  the  writer 
in  his  stead.  A  counter  movement  was  therefore 
undertaken  by  Mr.  Ogden  and  the  few  who  were  in 
his  confidence.  This  movement  was  not  discovered 
until  a  few  days  before  the  election.  Nine  of  the 
directors  were  very  much  surprised  to  learn  it,  and 
all  of  these  nine  sided  with  the  writer.  What  com- 
binations had  been  made,  and  how  many  proxies 
were  held  by  the  parties  in  this  movement,  were 
unknown.  We  started  for  Elgin,  where  the  meeting 
was  to  be  held.  Mr.  Ogden's  party,  with  Mr.  Arnold 
as  their  attorney,  went  in  one  car,  the  other  Chicago 
directors  in  another.  On  the  way  out,  the  writer 
said  to  the  directors  who  were  in  the  car  with  him, 
that  he  had  been  thinking  over  the  matter,  and  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  inasmuch  as  we  did  not 
know  how  strong  the  other  party  were,  and  what 
they  intended  ultimately  to  do,  the  better  way  would 
be  to  propose  to  them  that  the  writer  would  decline 
a  re-election  upon  condition  that  all  the  other  direc- 
tors should  be  re-elected  without  opposition  and  he 
said  he  would  name,  as  his  successor,  Mr.  Knowlton, 
of  Freeport;  that  the  other  party  would  be  obliged 
to  accept  this,  or  lose  Mr.  Knowlton's  and  the  other 
I'Veeport  votes,  which  would  certainly  defeat  them; 
that  we  could  not  afford  to  have  an  open  quarrel, 
which  might  hurt  our  credit  and  embarrass  the 
126 


Jir^t  iflailroati  ^p^temisf 

progress  of  the  road.  The  directors  with  the  writer 
replied,  if  Mr.  Scammon  is  willing  to  make  this 
proposition  they  thought  it  would  succeed,  but  no 
one  could  ask  it  of  him.  He  replied  that  he  was 
more  interested  in  the  completion  and  success  of 
the  road  than  in  any  personal  question:  that  he  had 
worked  solely  in  the  interest  of  the  road  as  a  public 
improvement  demanded  by  the  country,  and  had  no 
selfish  axes  to  grind,  and  that  he  would  make  that 
proposition,  and  trust  to  time  for  his  justification. 
It  was  made,  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  other  party, 
and  after  some  hesitation  or  consideration,  as  it 
'broke  their  slate,'  it  was  accepted.  Mr.  Ogden 
was  re-elected  president;  but  no  sooner  was  Mr. 
Scammon  out  of  the  directory  than  all  the  batteries 
of  the  conspirators  were  turned  against  Mr.  Ogden, 
and  his  place  was  made  so  uncomfortable  that  at 
the  end  of  the  year  he  left  the  road.  Immediately 
after  the  election,  the  nine  directors  called  the  con- 
spirators to  account;  and  there  was  a  confession 
that  the  writer  had  been  grossly  misrepresented  and 
improperly  treated,  and  a  promise  made  that  a 
proper  explanation  should  be  made.  It  was  never 
done.  But  William  B.  Ogden  acted  otherwise. 
When  he  learned  the  facts,  and  that  we  had  both 
been  made  the  victims  of  ambitious  and  designing 
men  who  wished  to  get  rid  of  the  writer,  because  he 
had  nipped  in  the  bud  their  first  attempt  at  spec- 
ulation in  the  location  of  the  road,  and  prevented 
its  repetition,  and  because  they  knew  that  they  were 
watched,  and  so  long  as  he  was  in  the  board  such 
movements  were  likely  to  be  detected  and  defeated, 
Mr.  Ogden  came  directly  to  the  writer,  and,  on 
learning  what  statements  these  parties  had  made  to 
the  latter,  relative  to  Mr.  Ogden,  at  once  frankly 
acknowledged  that  in  his  action  he  had  been  misled 
and  imposed  upon  by  those  he  trusted,  and  that  the 
writer's  conduct,  to  which  he  had  taken  so  grave 
exception  that  he  felt  justified  in  self-defense  to 
enter  into  combination  to  defeat  his  re-election,  was 
127 


iUcminisfcnicc^  of  OTljicago 

entirely  in  the  path  of  right  and  duty,  if  the  writer 
believed  the  representations  made  to  him,  as  he  was 
bound  to  do  within  the  circumstances." 

The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Comj^any, 
Judge  Breese's  stupendous  project,  which  had 
been  lying  dormant,  but  not  dead,  since  the 
bursting  of  the  internal  improvement  bubble  in 
1839,  was  taken  up  with  renewed  energy  in 
1848.  John  S.  Wright,  who  had  early  taken 
a  deep  interest  in  public  enterprises,  and  was  a 
man  of  great  foresight,  energy  and  enthusiasm, 
was  actively  employed  in  circulating  petitions 
and  documents  in  favor  of  a  land  grant  from 
the  general  government  to  assist  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  road,  while  the  father  of  the 
enterprise,  Judge  Brccse,  was  giving  his  time 
and  energies  to  it  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Wright  flooded  the  country  with  docu- 
ments laying  the  matter  before  every  class  of 
people.  He  is  said  to  have  distributed  at 
his  own  expense  six  thousand  copies  of  peti- 
tions to  Congress  for  a  grant  of  land  in  aid  of 
a  railroad  front  the  Upper  and  Lower  Missis- 
sippi to  Chicago.  Three  different  ones  were 
prepared — for  the  Scnith,  Illinois,  and  the  East. 
Judge  Douglas  said  they  came  to  Washington 
by  the  himdrcds,  munerously  signed,  and  had 
much  influence,  being  the  earliest  movement 
for  this  object  outside  of  Congress,  except  by 
the  Cairo  Company.  Arrangements  were  then 
(January,  1848)  being  made  to  continue  the 
128 


fitj^t  iHailroati  J^psftem^ 

Michigan  Central  Railroad  from  New  Buffalo 
to  Chicago,  sixty  miles,  which,  with  the  road 
then  building  across  Canada,  would  connect 
the  city  with  the  east.  The  Galena  &  Chicago 
Union  Railroad  had  been  surveyed.  The  pro- 
posed Buffalo  &  Mississippi  road  via  Chicago 
to  the  mouth  of  Rock  River  was  to  be  extended, 
in  time,  to  Council  Bluffs.  An  ardent  admirer 
of  this  project  and  a  warm  practical  supporter, 
and  a  hard  worker  to  make  the  enterprise  a 
success,  was  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The 
Illinois  Central  from  Cairo  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  to  the  canal  was  designed  to 
be  a  most  important  link  in  the  great  system 
of  communication  between  the  lakes  and 
the  Mississippi,  as  that  river  as  far  south  as 
Cairo  was  open  to  the  gulf  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year. 

The  original  bills,  introduced  by  Judge 
Breese,  as  he  himself  says  in  a  letter  to  Senator 
Douglas,  published  in  January,  185 1,  did  not 
contemplate  a  connection  with  Chicago.  They 
confined  the  roads  to  the  routes  from  Cairo, 
by  Vandalia,  Shelby ville,  Decatur,  Blooming- 
ton,  Peru  and  Dixon,  to  Galena.  In  1847 
Senator  Douglas  made  Chicago  his  home,  and 
he,  in  connection  with  other  large  property 
owners,  determined  to  establish  a  line  binding 
the  Northwest  with  the  lakes.  Thus  many 
friends  were  secured  for  the  measure  in  the 
northeastern  and  middle  states,  who  did  not 
favor  a  proposition  having  for  its  natural 
129 


il!emini^cmcci6f  of  €i)ica0o 

tendency  the  diversion  of  trade  from  the  Upper 
Mississippi  toward  New  Orleans  alone. ^ 

The  bill  was  reported  by  Judge  Breese, 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  public  lands,  the 
same  year,  but  did  not  meet  with  further  con- 
sideration. 

General  James  Shields  was  sent  to  Congress 
as  the  successor  of  Judge  Breese.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1849,  Congressman  Shields  and  Senator 
Douglas,  supported  by  the  other  Illinois  mem- 
bers, prepared  the  bill,  which  was  introduced 
into  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Douglas  in  January, 
1850.  It  passed  the  Senate  May  2,  and  the 
House  of  Representatives  September  20,  1850. 
Its  triumph  in  that  body  was  largely  due  to 
the  energy  and  ability  of  Hon.  John  Wentworth, 
the  Representative  of  this  district,  and  the 
late  Governor  Bissell,  then  a  member  of  the 
House.  At  the  same  time  a  strip  of  land 
between  I.a  Salle  and  Cairo,  two  hundred  feet 
wide,  was  granted  to  the  state  for  the  uses  of 
road-bed,  side-tracks,  and  stations  of  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad.  The  main  grant,  of  which  this 
was  supplementary,  was  2,595,000  acres  in 
the  heart  of  the  state,  or  alternate  sections 
designated  by  even  numbers  for  six  sections 
deep  on  each  side  of  the  main  line  and  its 
branches,  and  for  lands  sold  or  pre-empted 
within  those  sections,  an  equal  quantity  within 
fifteen  miles  on  each  side  of  the  line,  on  condi- 

1  Sec  letter  from  Senator  Douglas  to  Judge  Breese, 
published  in  Weekly  Democrat,  March  I,  185 1. 

130 


tion  that  the  grant  would  be  controlled  by 
Illinois,  and  when  the  road  should  be  built 
would  be  free  to  the  general  government. 
The  minimum  price  was  fixed  at  $2.50  per 
acre,  but  in  1852  $5.00  per  acre  was  realized. 
During  the  previous  month,  November  5, 
1849,  the  act  to  provide  for  "a  general  system 
of  railroad  incorporations"  went  into  effect. 
It  provided  that  not  less  than  twenty-five 
persons  might  form  a  railroad  corporation, 
and  elect  directors  when  $1,000  of  stock  per 
mile  should  be  subscribed  and  ten  per  cent 
paid  in.  Thirteen  directors  were  to  be  chosen, 
at  least  seven  of  whom  must  reside  in  the 
counties  through  which  the  road  was  to  run. 
Rules  were  laid  down  for  the  conduct  of  the 
directors,  making  the  stockholders  individually 
liable  to  the  creditors  of  the  company  to  the 
amount  of  stock  held  by  them.  Every  com- 
pany before  proceeding  to  construct  its  road 
through  any  county  was  to  make  a  map  of  its 
route  and  file  it  in  the  county  clerk's  office. 
The  corporation  was  not  to  interfere  with 
navigable  streams,  or  obstruct  roads  and  high- 
ways. The  compensation  for  any  passenger 
and  his  ordinary  baggage  was  not  to  exceed 
"three  cents  per  mile,  unless  by  special  act  of 
the  legislature."  Rules  were  also  laid  down 
for  obtaining  the  right  of  way.  Each  employee 
was  to  be  appropriately  "labeled"  with  his 
company's  badge.  Annual  reports  were  re- 
quired to  be  made  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 

131 


itlcmim^ccnccj^  of  Cl^icago 

and  the  railroad  property  listed  by  the  proper 
officer,  the  state  having  a  lien  upon  appurte- 
nances and  stock,  for  penalties,  dues  and  taxes. 
The  act  admitted  the  right  of  the  legislature  to 
alter  rates,  if  the  profits  were  not  reduced  less 
than  fifteen  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  paid- 
up  capital.  Three  commissioners,  appointed 
by  the  governor,  were  to  fix  the  rates  of  trans- 
portation for  the  United  States  mail,  in  case 
the  railroad  could  not  agree  with  the  general 
government.  Should  a  passenger  not  pay  his 
fare  the  conductor  w^as  authorized  to  "put 
him  off."  Under  no  circumstances  were 
freight  cars  to  be  placed  behind  passenger 
coaches,  and  at  least  a  thirty-two  pound  bell 
or  a  steam  whistle  was  to  be  placed  on  the 
locomotive,  and  worked  at  least  eighty  rods 
from  a  railroad  crossing.  Penalties  were  pro- 
vided for  a  violation  of  these  sections. 
"Warning  boards"  were  to  be  erected,  on 
which  were  to  be  painted,  in  capital  letters  of 
at  least  the  size  of  nine  inches,  "Railroad 
Crossing — Look  out  for  the  cars  while  the  bell 
rings,  or  the  whistle  sounds."  This  was  not 
to  apply  to  city  streets.  By  act  of  the  general 
assembly,  approved  February  17,  1851,  an 
act  entitled  "An  act  to  incorporate  the  Great 
Western  Railway  Company,"  approved  March 
6,  1843;  "An  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  an 
act  to  incorporate  the  Great  Western  Railway 
Company,"  approved  February  10,  1849,  '^"'^^ 
"An  act  to  incorporate  the  Illinois  Central 
132 


Railroad  Company,"  approved  January  i6, 
1836,  were  repealed.  By  section  3  of  the 
same  act  the  grant  of  Congress  approved 
September  20,  1 850,  was  accepted. 

Prior  to  the  passage  of  this  wholesale  re- 
pealing act,  a  memorial  was  presented  to  the 
general  assembly.  It  is  dated  December  28, 
1850,  and  signed  by  Robert  Schuyler,  George 
Griswold,  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  Morrisania, 
Franklin  Haven,  David  A.  Neal,  R.  Rantoul, 
Jr.,  J.  Sturges,  Thomas  W.  Ludlow,  and  John 
F.  A.  Sanford.  The  memorialists  offer  to 
build  a  road  from  Cairo  to  Galena,  with  a 
branch  to  Chicago,  on  or  before  July  4,  1 854, 
"as  well  and  thoroughly  built  as  the  railroad 
running  from  Boston  to  Albany,"  agreeing 
furthermore,   in  consideration  of  the  charter 

and  the  land  grant  to  "pay  annually per 

cent  of  the  gross  earnings  of  the  said  road." 
The  general  reader  may  be  glad  to  learn  that 
this  blank  was  filled  with  a  "seven"  and  that 
this  agreement  became  one  of  the  corner- 
stones of  the  financial  stability  of  the  state  of 
Illinois.^ 

On  February  10,  185 1,  the  legislature,  de- 
claring that  in  its  judgment  the  object  of 
incorporating  the  Central  Railroad  Company 
could  not  be  attained  under  general  laws,  passed 
an  act  incorporating  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company.     The  event  was  celebrated  in 

^The  amount  thus  paid  over  to  the  state  has  been 
over  $9,000,000. 

133 


^Hcmini^cmce^  of  €{)icago 

Chicago  by  a  popular  demonstration  of  favor. 
Tlie  corporators  were  the  memoriahsts  men- 
tioned above,  and  Henry  Grinnell,  William  H. 
Aspinwall,  Leroy  Wiley,  and  Joseph  W.  AIsop. 
These  gentlemen,  with  the  governor  of  the 
state  for  the  time  being,  were  constituted  the 
first  board  of  directors. 

To  this  company  the  congressional  grant  of 
right  of  way  and  public  lands,  together  with 
"the  right  of  way  which  the  state  of  Illinois 
has  heretofore  obtained";  the  lot  of  land  ob- 
tained by  the  state  within  the  city  of  Cairo  for 
a  depot;  "all  the  grading,  embankments,  ex- 
cavations, surveys,  work,  materials,  personal 
property,  profiles,  plats  and  papers  constructed, 
procured,  furnished  and  done  by  or  in  behalf 
of  the  state  of  Illinois,  for  or  on  account  of 
said  road  and  branches,  and  the  right  of  way 
over  and  through  lands  owned  by  the  state," 
were  "ceded  and  granted,"  and  the  company 
was  required  to  execute  a  deed  of  trust  of  all 
this  property,  together  with  "the  railroad 
which  may  be  built,"  to  Morris  Ketchum, 
John  Moore  and  Samuel  D.  Lockwood,  trustees, 
to  secure  to  the  state  the  first  lien  on  the 
property  so  conveyed,  the  construction  of  the 
road,  and  the  indemnification  of  the  state 
against  the  claims  of  the  United  States,  in 
case  the  road  should  not  be  completed  within 
ten  years  as  required  by  the  act  of  Congress 
of  September  20,  1 850.  Thus  the  magnificent 
grant  to  the  state  was  relinquished  to  a  private 

134 


corporation,  not  without  strong  opposition, 
however,  for  there  was  a  deep  feehng  against 
the  measure.  The  magnitude  of  the  grant 
was  so  overpowering  to  the  minds  of  many 
good  citizens  that  they  argued  earnestly  that 
by  proper  management  tlie  state  might  not 
only  build  the  seven  hundred  miles  of  railroad, 
but  from  the  proceeds  of  the  lands  pay  off  a 
burdensome  state  debt  of  many  millions  of 
dollars  besides.  Doubtless  this  might  have 
been  possible,  but  the  opportunities  for  "steals" 
might  not  have  been  easily  resisted.  John  S. 
Wright  published  a  pamphlet  in  which  he  in- 
sisted that  the  state  would  be  "everlastingly 
dishonored  if  the  legislature  did  not  devise 
laws  to  build  the  road,  and  disenthrall  the  state 
of  its  enormous  debt  besides,  out  of  the  avails 
of  this  grant."  The  company  negotiated  a 
loan  of  $400,000,  but  the  money  could  not  be 
realized  until  there  should  be  a  conveyance  of 
the  lands  from  the  general  government.  In 
this  there  was  some  delay.  Justice  Butterfield, 
the  commissioner  of  the  general  land  office  at 
Washington,  who  was  from  Chicago,  construed 
the  grant  as  entitling  the  company  to  lands  for 
the  Chicago  branch,  on  a  sti^aight  line  to 
Chicago,  which  would  avoid  the  junction  with 
the  Michigan  Central.  After  some  vexatious 
delay  this  construction  of  the  act  was  over- 
ruled by  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  and  in  March,  1852,  the  necessary 
patents  were  issued,  contracts  were  awarded, 
135 


lllcmmijefcmcc^  of  Cljicago 

work  commenced  and  the  road  pushed  forward 
to  completion  with  httle  interruption. 

The  successive  steps  by  which  the  Ilhnois 
Central  has  obtained  a  property  foothold  m 
Chicago  commenced  with  the  payment  of 
$45,000  to  the  general  government,  in  October, 
1850,  in  consideration  of  which  the  company 
obtained  possession  of  the  unoccupied  portion 
of  the  Fort  Dearborn  reservation.  The  rail- 
road company  paid  the  sum  under  protest, 
claiming  that  this  tract  was  included  in  the 
congressional  grant.  Suit  was  brought  in  the 
Court  of  Claims  for  the  recovery  of  the  money, 
but  the  decision  went  against  the  company. 
In  1852  the  legislature  empowered  the  company 
to  build  a  branch  from  the  terminus  at  Twelfth 
Street  to  the  south  pier  of  the  inner  harbor, 
and  the  city  council  supplemented  the  action 
of  the  legislature  in  June  of  the  same  year  by 
an  ordinance  permitting  the  company  to  lay 
tracks  parallel  with  the  lake  shore,  the  condition 
being  that  the  road  should  enter  the  city  at  or 
near  the  intersection  of  the  southern  limits  and 
the  lake,  and  pursue  a  course  along  the  shore 
to  the  southern  limit  of  Lake  Park,  to  front  of 
Canal  Section  No.  15,  and  continue  due  north 
to  the  proposed  site  within  the  Fort  Dearborn 
addition  to  Chicago,  between  the  line  of 
Randolph  Street  and  the  main  river.  This 
actually  handed  over  to  the  company  the  right 
to  use  a  strip  of  shore  three  hundred  feet  witle, 
east  of  a  line  drawn  parallel  with  Michigan 
136 


first  iltaiJroati  ^pisftemj^ 

Avenue,  four  hundred  distant  from  the  west 
Une  of  that  thoroughfare. 

In  September,  1852,  the  Illinois  Central 
commenced  work  on  the  lake  shore  protection, 
or  breakwater,  which  was  completed  in  two 
vears,  under  the  superintendency  of  Colonel 
R.  B.  Mason,  chief  engineer. 

In  1855  the  common  council  gave  the  com- 
pany permission  to  use  a  triangular  piece  of 
land  which  lay  north  of  Randolph  ancl  a  short 
distance  west  of  the  land  granted  in  1852.  In 
1856  the  city  granted  a  right  to  use  the  space 
between  the  breakwater,  from  a  point  seven 
hundred  feet  south  of  the  north  line  of  Randolph 
Street,  branching  out  and  running  thence  to 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  company's  break- 
water as  then  established,  and  thence  to  the 
river.  In  February  of  this  year,  passenger 
trains  over  the  Illinois  Central,  the  Michigan 
Central,  and  the  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  roads 
commenced  to  run  into  the  new  depot  of  the 
first  named  company.  After  that  year  the 
company  continued  to  improve  and  possess 
submerged  and  other  lands  east  of  the  east 
line  of  the  two  hundred  feet  granted  in  the 
original  ordinance. 

This  company  was  the  first  to  take  action  in 
the  matter  of  suburban  trains.  A  time  table 
was  issued  June  I,  1856,  and  three  trains  placed 
on  the  line  between  the  city  and  Hyde  Park. 


137 


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